Getting 'Clipped': Ed O'Neill stars in series about Clippers scandal (2024)

LOS ANGELES – To prepare for “Clipped,” a look at LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the racist remarks that brought down his kingdom, Ed O’Neill didn’t have to look far.

“I saw one video of him speaking and everything else was in the script,” says the former “Modern Family” star.

For Cleopatra Coleman, who plays Sterling’s assistant V Stiviano, there were countless videos to peruse. “This was only 10 years ago,” she says of the scandal, but Executive Producer Gina Welch did such intense research “she was really instrumental in filling in a lot of the gaps.”

Based on the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast, “The Sterling Affairs,” “Clipped” tracks the fallout that occurred after Sterling made racist remarks to Stiviano. The released tapes rocked the NBA and resulted in Sterling’s expulsion but weren’t necessarily the change that was needed.

“This is what it’s like to be Black in a white space,” says Rembert Browne, one of the series’ producers and writers. “For a league that is majority Black, it’s an important story to relive.”

Because Sterling wielded a lot of clout in Los Angeles (he also owned a lot of property in the city), it’s a look at “what it feels like for anybody who’s ever worked for an unjust, prejudiced, mercurial boss who has all the power in the world over you and what it does to you as a person to be in a workplace that is so infected from the top,” says Executive Producer Nina Jacobson.

The series, Coleman says, is “wildly entertaining,” but it’s also a “poignant commentary on racism and misogyny and the power structures that our society is built on. It’s very sensitive to that…and sophisticated.”

What prompted the fallout? A conversation between Stiviano and Sterling. It came after she posted a photograph on Instagram of her with NBA legend Magic Johnson.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Black people,” Sterling said in the taped conversation. “Do you have to?” The tape, which went on for nearly an hour, was leaked to the media and revealed plenty about the couple’s relationship and his method of managing. Coupled with sexual assault allegations and other racism lawsuits, it was the evidence needed to get Sterling banned from the NBA.

Sterling’s wife, Shelly, “is ultimately the winner here,” says Jacki Weaver, who plays the role. “She outsmarts and outwits all those guys in that bastion of male supremacy, men’s sports, with her superior business acumen and her negotiating skills. Her story strikes a nerve for women.”

O’Neill says he was particularly struck by the scenes in the locker room and how the players were affected by Sterling’s words. “It was an important story to be told,” he says. “I’m not so much into that aspect of showbiz. I’m usually like, ‘It should delight people and entertain them,’ right? But maybe (viewers) will take away something from this.”

Coleman, who shot many scenes with O’Neill, got a chance to see him as the kind, loving actor he is, not the tyrant he plays. “He’s got great stories,” she says.

“Clipped,” she adds, gave her a chance to “peel back the layers and find out how (Stiviano) became that way.” Part opportunist, part whistleblower, she was a “complicated character, which is very satisfying as an actor to play.”

O’Neill found Sterling’s layers, too. “It’s fun to play the bad guy – there are a lot of sides to them, so you get to do a lot of different things.”

While success has given him the luxury of selecting what roles he plays, O’Neill says there was something about “Clipped” that attracted him. “I guess I still want to do things,” he says with a smile.

"Clipped" premieres June 4 on Hulu.