HBO and the University of North Carolina were reportedly in agreement to feature the Tar Heels’ football team on the upcoming season of Hard Knocks — but it all fell apart at the last minute due to head coach Bill Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
Citing multiple industry sources, The Athletic reported on Wednesday, April 30 that Hudson, 24, “played an instrumental role in stopping the production, related to her request to be heavily involved in the project.”
NFL Films, which produces the HBO docuseries, was reportedly set to begin shooting in Chapel Hill on March 1. Instead, the company decided not to proceed, as Jessica Boddy, NFL vice president for commercial operations and business affairs, explained in a March 3 email to North Carolina’s counsel.
“The conversation took a turn we were not comfortable with,” she wrote in the email.
North Carolina lost out on $200,000 in facility fees and more in exposure, according to The Athletic, though Boddy offered to reimburse the school.
While it’s not clear what Hudson’s role was in the discussions with NFL Films, she has played a prominent role in Belichick’s business affairs since he took over the UNC job late last year. In a December 2024 email to university officials, The Athletic reports she referred to herself as the chief operating officer of Belichick Productions.
Though Hudson does not have an official role on staff, Belichick, 73, reportedly requested she be copied on certain university emails. She has also been heavily involved in the promotion of Belichick’s book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.”
Belichick appeared on CBS on Sunday, April 27, to promote the book, while Hudson could be seen during the discussion trying to shut down questions about how the couple initially met.
Belichick released a statement on Wednesday in which he said that he agreed to speak to CBS solely about his book.
“She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track,” he said. “Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.”
He added that the edited version of the interview that aired “presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.”
Hudson said she plans to release a statement about what happened on Wednesday as well. Us Weekly has reached out to North Carolina and HBO for comment.
#Jordon #Hudson #Instrumental #Halting #UNC #Hard #Knocks #Plans #Report