‘Last Chance U’ Football Players Sue Netflix for Massive Sum

Six stars from the original seasons of Last Chance U are suing Netflix for $30 million, according to TMZ. Multiple players allege that they were improperly paid and defamed by the popular reality series, with defensive tackle Ronald Ollie even going so far as to say his portrayal by the producers negatively affected his chances at employment in the NFL.

Last Chance U follows elite college football players with troubled pasts who have dreams of making it big to become professional star athletes. The first season followed students at East Mississippi Community College, which prides itself on being one of the most successful junior college programs in the U.S. The team was in the running for their fourth national title, but the season ended in tragedy after they got into a fight with rival program Mississippi Delta and were disqualified from the playoffs in the aftermath. Subsequent seasons included visits to college football programs in Kansas and California, and a spin-off series called Last Chance U: Basketball was also produced for two years.

Now, students from EMCC are suing Netflix for receiving no compensation from the show. Netflix, of course, made massive profits from the show’s popularity. The former football players claim they were harassed into signing contracts for the project, and if they didn’t, they would be banned from practices and games. In addition, the players claim they weren’t allowed to consult with attorneys beforehand, and were not made aware of the proper rules for NIL (name, image and likeness) contracts in the NCAA or elsewhere.

“Make no mistake,” their attorneys write in the lawsuit, “each of the defendants have been unjustly enriched by intruding upon the private lives of the plaintiffs, taking unfair advantage of them through defendants’ superior bargaining power, manipulating many of plaintiffs’ characters, along with other means for their own financial gain while sacrificing any decent reputation plaintiffs had.”

Not every Last Chance U player missed their shot at the NFL—John Franklin III, for example, played backup to Tom Brady at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their Super Bowl run. The New York Jets drafted Jermaine Johnson in Round 1 of the 2022 draft, and he still plays for them today. But judging by this lawsuit, many of the players simply felt exploited.

Netflix has not responded to the lawsuit as of press time.