The new Hulu series “Clipped” offers a dramatic look back at the Donald Sterling scandal, during which recordings by V. Stiviano exposed the former Clippers owner’s racist remarks and triggered explosive fallout. Times writers Ben Bolch , Bill Plaschke and Dan Woike covered the Sterling saga and help us fact check the new show.
Plaschke had a brief cameo in the show, which was based on Ramona Shelburne’s ESPN podcast series. Ed O’Neill , who is well known for his roles on “Married With Children” and “Modern Family,” tackled the role of Donald Sterling during the series. Did he deliver a reasonably accurate version of the Sterling you saw while covering the Clippers? Bolch: Sterling had a more firm, menacing presence — you felt uncomfortable just being in the same room with him.
O’Neill captures the buffoonery to a large extent but seems a touch more jovial than the man he portrays. Writers missed the opportunity to add another layer to his character by failing to dedicate one of the show’s flashbacks — probably the best part of the series — to a young Sterling to demonstrate what went into making him such a hateful person. O’Neill doesn’t make Sterling as unlikeable as he is in real life, which is troublesome given that he’s the show’s primary antagonist.
Plaschke: Ed O’Neill is terrific as Donald Sterling. Eccentric, bombastic, sleazy, completely unaware of how the world viewed him. I actually attended the White Party that was so vividly.
