• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • The State Of R&B
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Celebrity

EXCLUSIVE: Jessie T. Usher and RonReaco Lee Talk 'Survivor's Remorse,' and Meeting Lebron James

The Starz comedy gives us an insider’s look at the lives of professional basketball players.
EXCLUSIVE: Jessie T. Usher and RonReaco Lee Talk ‘Survivor’s Remorse,’ and Meeting Lebron James
Maarten de Boer/ Getty
By Yolanda Sangweni · Updated October 27, 2020

The new Starz comedy Survivor’s Remorse gives us an insider’s look at the lives of professional basketball players. Cam Calloway (played by Jessie T. Usher) is a young basketball player from the inner city who makes it to the pros and now has to deal with the gift, and curse, of suddenly being famous and rich. He moves to a big city with his eccentric family in tow—Tichina Arnold plays his mom; Mike Epps is his crazy uncle Julius.

The show is co-executive produced by Lebron James, though the story isn’t only based on his own life. Usher and co-star RonReaco Lee, recently spoke with ESSENCE.com about the show experiencing survivor’s remorse in their own lives, and getting to meet Lebron James.

Because Lebron James is associated with this show, you’ve probably heard it over and over again, ‘Is this about him?’
Jessie Usher: Of course. There are a lot of things on the show that could veer towards his story, but then of course there are some things that you’re going to see and you’re going to say, ‘That didn’t happen to Lebron’ or ‘that wasn’t Lebron.’ Anyone in that position, coming from humble beginnings who is now where Lebron is—they’re going to have a lot of similar traits because they walk a similar path, regardless of if they’re a professional athlete or a business person who made it rich. Cam isn’t in anyway based on Lebron, but from my first audition with the casting directors, we were getting direct notes like, ‘Cam is gracious, Cam is humble, Cam is giving, Cam is kindhearted, Cam is passionate. He is all of these things and they need to see that just from the first speech alone. So, there’s a lot to be related between Cam and Lebron.

Reggie, his cousin and manager is a bit of jerk.
RanRaeco Lee: Really? I like that. For sure! I was going for a**hole, because let me tell you, I have been fortunate in this, my life. I have worked and I have that face that people recognize but not the name. People come up to me and go, ‘You know, I forgot your name.’ People always associate me with being this nice guy. I was raised right, I owe it all to my mom and my dad, but it’s really nice for someone to be like, ‘Yo, you’re kind of an a**hole.’ As an actor you go, ‘Thank you, I appreciate that!’

When we see basketball players, most of us don’t look at them as 3-dimensional figures. It’s like, you have money, and you play basketball, end of story. Were you at all interested in the background of basketball players and what their reality must be off the court? 
Usher: Not necessarily. Mike O’Malley [the writer and co-executive producer] says this show didn’t necessarily have to be about a basketball player. This guy could have been a Tiger Woods; he could have been a professional golfer, a tennis player or anyone who now has fame and fortune.

So the show is also about the idea that when you make it, there’s a bit of you that still stays. You want to help everybody in your family and your extended family. Could you relate to the fact that Cam feels guilty about all the people he left behind?
Usher: Raeco puts it really well. He always says that either you’re the person with survivor’s remorse or you’re the person causing survivor’s remorse.

Lee: I don’t have survivor’s remorse. I am surviving at this point. It’s rough; we’re starving artists and obviously this show is a great opportunity for both of us. Listen, I’ve been in the game long enough to know, I walk off of every set knowing that I might not return. In other words, it’s a business. At the end of the day, if the dollars don’t make sense, the show is gone. I am still in that struggle.

Have you met Lebron?
Usher: We have. He never made it to set because season one was shot literally during the NBA finals. They would yell cut and we would go watch him play.

Lee: We got to meet him a couple weeks ago at the premiere. I’ve been a fan of his; I watched him play on his first nationally televised games in high school when he was at St. Mary’s. It was a dream come true for me. There are times when I’ve met celebrities and I’ve been awestruck because I may have grown up watching them or even had dreams of working with them and then you meet them and they’re just a**holes. You’re like, damn! It’s always refreshing when you meet somewhere and you go, ‘God, you’re nicer than I would have ever imagined.’ Lebron is that guy.

Survivor’s Remorse airs Saturdays at 9pm ET on Starz

TOPICS:  Survivor’s Remorse
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now