The Last Dance: Obama on-screen description updated after it was dubbed ‘disrespectful’
Former US president described as merely ‘Former Chicago Resident’ in previous episodes of series
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The hit docuseries The Last Dance has updated its on-screen description of Barack Obama, after viewers dubbed it “disrespectful”.
Obama, who has appeared throughout the series as a talking head, was previously described as “Barack Obama – Former Chicago Resident” in an on-screen title card. An episode released last night (3 May), however, saw him described as “President Barack Obama”.
The series explores the basketball team The Chicago Bulls during their 1997-1998 game season, which also served as the final season for sports legend Michael Jordan.
The show’s description of Obama had come in for criticism. Despite many viewers interpreting the description as a joke, others slammed the title card as “disrespectful”.
“Y’all disrespectful as hell,” one viewer tweeted. “Former Chicago resident. Put some respect on his name!”
Speaking to Boston.com, The Last Dance’s director Jason Hehir referred to the title card as “a little inside joke in our edit room”. Former president Bill Clinton, who also appears in the series, was himself described on-screen as “Former Arkansas Governor”.
“I was pretty adamant that when we have a celebrity, we wanted it to be organic to the story,” Hehir said. “We don’t want to just have a president for president’s sake… The reason he was in there is that he was a former Chicago resident.”
Hehir added that he had received online abuse as a result of the title card.
“I’ve seen people who are investigating whether I’m a Democrat or Republican,” he said. “I’m a huge Obama fan, so for people to say it’s disrespectful and I did that on purpose? I mean, come on. I promise you he will be the president by the end of the series.”
The Last Dance, episodes of which are being released two-a-week on Netflix UK, dedicated its most recent episode to the late Kobe Bryant.

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
The basketball star, who died in a helicopter accident in January, shot his appearances in the series weeks before his death.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments