Season 2 of HBO's hit series "Ballers," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, kicked off last night and it featured a number of cameos from NFL players including the Miami Dolphins' Ndamukong Suh and the Baltimore Ravens' Terrell Suggs. This, according to the show's executive producer Mark Wahlberg, is something that Roger Goodell and other league executives tried to prevent.
Marky Mark appeared on ESPN's Mike & Mike recently and claimed that the league's commissioner was not happy with the show and even called to tell him "You can't do this."
"The first season of the show, the only calls I was getting were from guys like Roger Goodell saying, 'You can't do this,' and various owners in the league," Wahlberg said. "We were saying it's actually a good thing for the league and the players because hopefully you'll get the word out there with the crazy stuff and the financial side of it and hopefully get these guys to realize that they've got to be more careful with what they do with their money."
“We’re privileged to get in the real story,” Wahlberg said. “We want to make sure the key is to make it as authentic as possible, no matter how outrageous it gets. We always surround ourselves with real guys. Because the show is so accurate, that’s why you get guys like Ndamukong Suh, Terrell Suggs is on the show as well this year, Jarvis Landry, you got a lot of guys and not to mention countless Patriots. I can’t say who it is or what they’re doing yet because it’s a surprise and I don’t want to spoil the finale, but guys know that we make sure that we make it real.”
An NFL spokesperson disputed Wahlberg's claims on twitter, stating that Goodell never personally called to complain about "Ballers" so it really just boils down to a he said, he said.
But would anyone really be surprised if the NFL commish tried to prevent players from appearing on this Entourage-inspired version of life in the NFL?
[Via]