LeBron James’ three part documentary, Shut Up and Dribble debuts on Showtime next month, and when it does, viewers will hear a familiar voice. Former ESPN host and writer Jemele Hill has signed on to narrate the film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hill was always going to be involved, but originally her involvement was simply as an interview subject.
Hill — who has covered the NBA for ESPN and began her journalism career as a sports writer (at the Raleigh News & Observer and then the Detroit Free Press) — was originally booked as an interviewee. But the fact that Hill famously expressed her dismay with President Trump in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Va., makes enlisting her all the more apt. After she became the target of virulent comments and threats from the alt-right, James voiced his support for her. “Once you’re in the club,” she says, “it’s something that binds you.”
James and director Gotham Chopra filmed an array of interviews for Shut Up and Dribble, which highlights activism in sports and the reaction of the public and the media. Jay Z, Charles Barkley, Justin Timberlake, and Kevin Durant are all slated to appear in the documentary, which takes its name from Fox News’s Laura Ingraham and her criticism of James himself.
