Clipped: The trailer for the new FX limited series recounts the NBA’s Donald Sterling controversy

Last Updated on April 30, 2024

A new limited series ripped straight from the headlines comes to us from FX. Clipped stars Laurence Fishburne, Ed O’Neill, Jacki Weaver and Cleopatra Coleman in one of the NBA’s biggest controversies. The six-part limited series is set to debut on Hulu with back-to-back episodes on June 4. The trailer for the show has been released by FX.

The official synopsis reads,
“FX’s Clipped takes you behind the scenes of a notorious NBA owner’s racist remarks, captured on a tape heard around the world. Based on the hit ESPN 30 for 30 podcast The Sterling Affairs, this limited series charts the collision between a dysfunctional basketball organization and even less functional marriage, and the precipitating tape’s impact on an ensemble of characters striving to win against the backdrop of the most cursed team in the league.

Famed coach Doc Rivers (Laurence Fishburne) arrives as coach of the LA Clippers in 2013. With a promising roster of big personalities, Rivers has the building blocks to win the franchise’s first championship.

The team’s owner, Donald Sterling (Ed O’Neill), is a well-known problem: he’s cheap, he’s erratic, he’s a bully. But minimizing Sterling’s influence to win a title becomes a personal quest for Doc. Meanwhile, a courtside power struggle escalates between Sterling’s ambitious personal assistant V. Stiviano (Cleopatra Coleman) and his wife and business partner of 60 years, Shelly (Jacki Weaver). FX’s Clipped is an Obama-era story of racial reckoning delivered via meme, in which V. and the Sterlings discover who really has the power in the internet age, and which leaves Rivers and his players wondering if the expulsion of one bad apple brings about the transformative change the media wants to celebrate.”

The limited series also stars Kelly AuCoin as Sterling’s right-hand Andy Roeser, J. Alphonse Nicholson as Chris Paul, Rich Sommers as the Clippers’ PR man Seth Burton, Corbin Bernsen as Pierce O’Donnell, Clifton Davis as NBA great Elgin Baylor and Harriet Sansom Harris as “Justine.” Executive Producers on the series inclue Gina Welch, who serves as creator and showrunner, Emmy^®-winning producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, Zanne Devine, Ramona Shelburne and Kevin Bray. Bray also directs three of the six episodes. This series is an FX Production.