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Furious Jerry West asked to 'lighten up' after he demands apology over 'Winning Time' portrayal

Twitter was torn after the former Lakers legend slammed HBO by calling his portrayal a 'baseless and malicious assault' on his character

Former Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West demanded a retraction and an apology over his portrayal (by Jason Clarke) in the HBO show, 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty'. He called it a 'baseless and malicious assault' on his character in a letter sent to the network and producer Adam McKay. His lawyers allege that West was portrayed as "an out-of-control, intoxicated rageaholic," saying that he "bears no resemblance to the real man." They added that the retraction has to be done no later than two weeks.

"The portrayal of NBA icon and LA Lakers legend Jerry West in 'Winning Time' is fiction pretending to be fact -- a deliberately false characterization that has caused great distress to Jerry and his family," said Skip Miller, a partner at the Miller Barondess LLP law firm in Los Angeles and attorney for West to ESPN. "Contrary to the baseless portrayal in the HBO series, Jerry had nothing but love for and harmony with the Lakers organization, and in particular owner Dr. Jerry Buss, during an era in which he assembled one of the greatest teams in NBA history."

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The letter added: "Jerry West was an integral part of the Lakers and NBA's success. It is a travesty that HBO has knowingly demeaned him for shock value and the pursuit of ratings. As an act of common decency, HBO and the producers owe Jerry a public apology and at the very least should retract their baseless and defamatory portrayal of him." At the time of writing, HBO had not immediately responded to West's letter. The news took Twitter by storm and the responses were mixed.

While one segment felt the portrayal was absolutely abused and offensive, the other felt it was TV and dramatization was just how it would be. "I couldn't even get started with this show. Growing up with the showtime Lakers, this show doesn't do it for me. Yes, the portrayal of Jerry West is terrible," one of the tweets read. "The Twitter responses telling West & Kareem to "just let it go"...I'd ask those people to think if it was their life being exaggerated to such an extreme, before criticizing West & Kareem for at least responding to it," read another.

"The series is good, but they made up a lot of shit, including the Bird-Magic matchups. Easy to look up," a fan opined. "Strongly agree with west, the show misrepresents real humans and damages their names for entertainment, it’s my least favorite part of the show," a tweet said. "the Jerry West character is arguably the most entertaining, but even tho they include a disclaimer, i don’t understand why @winningtimehbo creators felt so compelled to make his character out to be someone totally unlike the person he is," a fan remarked.

Here's a look at the responses asking West to ease up.

"Lighten up, Jerry. This just shows that even though they made a caricature out of you with fictionalized events and an exaggerated trait, they still caught your essence. Everyone knows it's fictionalized. Even the road trip ending at Boston is fiction. Get over it," one of the fans exclaimed. "They literally say in the first episode that the show dramatizes a lot of the moments for entertainment purposes. Of course it’s not going to be completely realistic. The show is extremely enjoyable and is doing a great job at bringing into light the growth of the showtime lakers," a fan wrote.

"It’s one of the best shows on tv lol, Hell Magic should be mad not Jerry Jerry is not even a bad guy on the show," a fan opined. "I’m enjoying the heck out of it. It’s great. But I’m also taking it for what it is. Fictional entertainment. Dr. Buss bought the team in 79, drafted Magic, won a chip are the only facts. It’s like when a movie tells you it was inspired by true events," another fan seconded. "I'm enjoying the show quite a bit but don't consider it gospel and know it's embellished. Honestly, the more people complain about their depictions on the show, the more it interests me," one of the fans said.

Claire Rothman, who ran operations at the Great Western Forum for over two and was portrayed by Gaby Hoffmann in the series was all in support of West. "Jerry treated me and everyone else in the Lakers organization with dignity and respect. I never saw Jerry break or throw anything in anger or rage nor did I hear anyone ever say he did such things."

This update comes after the author of the book Jeff Pearlman and longtime basketball writer Bob Ryan battled it out on social media with the latter saying, "The Jerry West portrayal is reprehensible and borderline criminal. His three words to Adam McKay should be 'See my lawyer.'"

'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO.

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