Jason Hehir, the director of ‘The Last Dance’ docuseries about Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, spoke in an interview with Pablo Torre about scenes that the NBA refused. He revealed that Scottie Pippen made some unsavory comments about former Bulls GM Jerry Krause that the NBA asked Hehir to omit from the documentary, presumably worried about them being deemed offensive.
“The Krause family, obviously, Jerry wasn’t around to interview. The harder we demonstrated that the team was on him, the more sympathy I thought that would garner for Krause. Because I thought that people appreciate that he’s the one that put the pieces in play, this poor guy is kind of a fish out of water with these NBA alpha males, look at how they’re hazing him.”
“Instead, people felt like the filmmakers hated Jerry Krause and they made him the villain. That was not the intent. So that was my misstep. If you have a problem with how he was portrayed, that is on me.”
The one thing the NBA pushed back on in the entire process was a clip where Scottie, in the locker room, they were joking around saying what they were going to do when they won the title, and Scottie — I’m paraphrasing — basically said, ‘I’m going to stick a cattle prod up Jerry Krause’s butt, and give that guy a heart attack’.”
“Everybody laughed, and it wasn’t like, ‘Oh my god, keep the cattle prods away from Scottie’. He said it in the heat of the moment… So I included that in our rough cuts because I wanted people to see what this guy was going through day in and day out. And that’s the one thing that they (NBA) made me take out in the three or four years of doing this.”
Those comments from Pippen are definitely offensive, and it makes sense why the NBA would be against airing that footage. Krause was already quite a maligned figure, not just in Bulls history, but also in the docuseries as a whole, even though the director didn’t intend for that.
Jerry Krause Has Been Villainized By Bulls Fans
Earlier this year, the Chicago Bulls honored their dynasty players in a ceremony. Unfortunately, Bulls fans disrespectfully booed former GM Jerry Krause when he was shown and named. His wife, who was in attendance, was visibly emotional, and understandably so, considering how hard her late husband worked for the Bulls.
Several former NBA players criticized Bulls fans for showing such disrespect to someone so pivotal to their team. Steve Kerr called out the fans for the blatant show of disdain for the former GM. And Isiah Thomas, a big rival of Michael Jordan and the Bulls, called Krause’s wife to console her after the fans upset her.
One ESPN insider believed that fans booed Krause because of Michael Jordan, and how his bullying ways. Jordan famously never got along with Krause, and Krause played a big role in Jordan’s second retirement after he promised not to bring back legendary head coach Phil Jackson, something Jordan wouldn’t accept.
Jordan’s retirement led to the Bulls blowing up their team and entering a rebuild. Since then, they have failed to even come close to the heights they reached in the 90s, as decades of mismanagement have led to the franchise floundering.
Hopefully, fans learn their lesson and show some more respect to Jerry Krause. Even keeping aside his work as GM who put together what many consider to be the greatest team of all time, he deserves respect and dignity as a human being, as all human beings do. This is a lesson everyone in the world should do well to remember.
