Lakers Icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Bashes $154 Million Worth Hit Film Over Huge Ana de Armas Scandal

In his Substack pieces, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar usually voices his uncensored, unfiltered opinions on sensitive topics which the mainstream media often tends to avoid. Although, on this occasion, the topic of discussion isn’t sensitive, but rather bizarre. The Los Angeles Lakers legend recently put his foot down to address a Hollywood controversy involving Ana De Armas. The 19-time NBA All-Star wasn’t very happy with the movie studios allegedly taking advantage of the audiences’ trust and utilizing it to their financial benefit. Hence, he called out the people involved in this recent Hollywood scandal involving a unique lawsuit.

Two Ana de Armas fans filed a lawsuit in January against the makers of the popular 2019 movie, “Yesterday“. They were apparently misled by the trailer of the movie, thinking de Armas was in it. The movie collected $154 Million in 2019, but it garnered some backlash for showing Ana de Armas in the trailer and not in the actual movie. Therefore, two fans of the popular actress sued the studios for false advertisement.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar calls out studios trying to mislead audiences

The U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson, who was presiding over the lawsuit, recently ruled out an argument made by the Studios’ lawyers that a movie trailer is a creative expression and should be protected from legal ramifications under free speech laws. In his recent blog on Kareem Substack, Abdul-Jabbar agreed with the judge’s decision. Additionally, he described his take on the prevalent exercise by the movie studios in Hollywood.

“While trailers are creative works (sometimes better than the movie they’re promoting), they exist only to sell us on spending our money on the movie being advertised.” said Abdul-Jabbar. He further added,” Even if the plaintiffs don’t win the lawsuit, they are certainly right in wanting to hold studios accountable for misleading advertising.”

The Lakers legend further continued describing how studios are more concerned with getting people into the “theater seat”. However, they should be rather concerned about the enjoyment of the fans. The six-time NBA Champion learned that the scene which was advertised in the trailer was cut after a test screening.

Abdul-Jabbar was not quite happy with the decision. He said, “Art often has to fight its way past our expectations of and comfort with the familiar in order to give us something that makes us see the world differently.”

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The 19-time All-star may seem a lot like the normal movie-going lot, who has equally suffered from false advertising. Although, the legend is as frustrated as the audience, he is part of big-budget Hollywood films too.

Abdul-Jabbar’s regular cameos in Hollywood movies and TV shows

The Lakers legend made his acting debut in 1971 but has since not failed to show his acting chops almost every year. There are numerous TV shows which have Abdul-Jabbar’s cameos in them. Notably, The Big Bang Theory and Dave. 

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His most recent cameo belongs to one of the biggest movies of the year, Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. A film that went out to be one of the biggest hits of the year recently.