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Former college football coach Jason Brown is suing Netflix for $30 million over the his appearance in the streaming service’s Last Chance U docuseries. Brown’s lawsuit comes on the heels of six former football players from East Mississippi Community College suing Netflix over their appearance in the show.
According to TMZ, Jason Brown filed the $30 million lawsuit in Los Angeles County. He claims in the lawsuit that his appearance in Last Chance U cost him money because the show and its producers portrayed “him in a false and offensive light through selective editing and misrepresentation.”
Brown also claims that he was told by producers before appearing on Last Chance U that the show would generate positive publicity for him. He even claims that they told him, “Colleges will be calling you after this airs.” Instead, he claims, the show “cut, pasted, edited, and distorted” footage “to depict him as a volatile, abusive tyrant for their financial gain.”
“I know the viewership. I know the money that’s involved if you just do the simple math, and we haven’t gotten anything,” Brown told TMZ in February. “And a guy like myself is arguably blackballed from the profession, can’t get a job in the profession. Yet you continue to make money off my name, image, and likeness. So, I do have a little bit of a sour taste, and I do have an issue with it.”
Interestingly, six years ago, Jason Brown was singing a very different tune to TMZ, telling the media outlet that he was so popular that he had to turn down 400 potential recruits because of his appearance on Last Chance U.
Perhaps the six players who appeared in the first two seasons of the series suing Netflix, the production company and others related to Last Chance U for the exact same amount, $30 million, had something to do with it.
Jason Brown was forced to resign as coach at Independence Community College in 2019 after he told a German player that he was his “new Hitler.” Shortly thereafter, Brown was charged with eight felonies – four counts of blackmail and four counts of identity theft – and two misdemeanor counts of criminal false communication.