“Elvis Deserved Better. He Helped Bring Black Music to White Audiences”: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Rips Tom Hanks’ Movie After Winning Time Criticism

Published 07/10/2022, 3:30 PM EDT

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar absolutely rips apart Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 movie Elvis as a bland and formulaic production to capture the intricacies of the life of a musical genius like Elvis Presley. In fact, Abdul-Jabbar expressed his discontent that the movie follows in the longstanding tradition of musicians’ biopics in portraying an artist as a victim of a predatory industry and his own creative desire.

In other words, the NBA veteran thought that the movie failed to do justice to Elvis Presley’s dynamic character. He also criticized the director’s creative choice of selecting Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks) as the narrator of the story. According to Abdul-Jabbar, Parker exploited Elvis for monetary gains.

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Moreover, he was a shrewd, opportunistic capitalist, lacking wit, intellect, and humor. Therefore, he didn’t deserve to narrate Elvis’ story.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar criticizes Tom Hanks’ Elvis

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called out Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis to be a superficial production without any substance, story, or character development. In fact, the Lakers legend referred to the film as “a shabby satin pillow with Elvis’s image“.

However, Abdul-Jabbar praised the musical sequences in the movie. But apart from that, the movie was just a gaudy showing of empty pomp and tasteless razzle-dazzle. In the words of the former Lakers center, “A gallon of white rice with only a couple tablespoons of delicious curry tikka floating on top“.

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Incidentally, Luhrmann directed the 2013 rendition of Edward FitzGerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby. Abdul-Jabbar called him out for trying to extrapolate the formula of that film and applying it to Elvis.

Kareem on Elvis’ contributions to black music

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Meanwhile, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explained a significant reason behind his disappointment in the movie. “Elvis deserved better. He helped bring Black music to White audiences,” said the six-time NBA champion. “[Elvis’ ventures] helped lift Black recording artists to popularity with White audiences,” he added.

Incidentally, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been one of the leading voices against discrimination in the country. In fact, the 75-year-old has trail-blazed a path for younger athletes to voice their opinions on social and racial injustice.

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Do you agree with Kareem’s comments on the film? Let us know below.

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Written by:

Satagni Sikder is an NBA writer for EssentiallySports. He has a Master's degree in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and has been following the NBA since 2017. Moreover, he supports the Dallas Mavericks, and unsurprisingly, Luka Doncic is his favorite player.

Edited by:

Arunaditya Aima

“Elvis Deserved Better. He Helped Bring Black Music to White Audiences”: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Rips Tom Hanks’ Movie After Winning Time Criticism

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar criticizes Tom Hanks’ Elvis

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Kareem on Elvis’ contributions to black music