Mark Wahlberg claims the NFL’s commissioner didn’t like Ballers.
The second season of HBO’s Ballers, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, premiered on Sunday. And if you believe executive producer Mark Wahlberg, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell probably isn’t too thrilled about it.
Wahlberg went on ESPN’s Mike & Mike Saturday morning to talk about the show and revealed that Goodell called him last year and told 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 too. We were saying it’s actually a good thing for the league and the players because … with the crazy stuff and the financial side of things and hopefully get them to realize that they have to be careful with their money. Now you get a lot of guys wanting to do it.”
It wasn’t really clear what was meant by “this,” but we would have to assume that Goodell was not too pleased to see all of the drugs, sex and crazy behavior depicted in the show about the NFL, a company still reeling from a history of domestic violence incidents.
Now, we have to wonder whether or not Wahlberg was just making this up to stir up controversy and press about the new season. But, as it turns out, Wahlberg could do “this” and he did do it, which must have been a real bummer for NFL executives. In addition, several more NFL players are scheduled to make cameos on this season of Ballers.
“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.”
That sucks for the head of the NFL, he can’t even stop his own employees from a show he does not approve.
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