Shocking Reason Why ‘Police Academy’ Reboot Never Happened

Warner Bros. / Getty ImagesA reboot of the cult-comedy franchise Police Academy was scrapped after the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Comedy writer Ike Barinholtz revealed on the Funny You Ask podcast that he was hired by New Line Cinema to write a script for a “dirty, rated-R, modern” take on the 1984 box office hit. The project was slated to star and be produced by Keegan-Michael Key, 55, and Jordan Peele, 47. Barinholtz explained that as the reboot was being developed, Michael Brown was shot by a police officer. “We’re not making a cop comedy right now where we’re having these two hilarious Black actors play police officers,” Barinholtz said. In August 2014, Brown was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, when he was 18-years old. While Wilson claimed that the teen tried to grab his pistol, Brown’s friend, Dorian Johnson, who was with him during the incident, explained that Wilson initiated the conflict by grabbing Brown by the neck through his patrol car window. Johnson claimed that Brown had his hands raised and begged Wilson not to shoot before the incident spiraled. A grand jury ultimately decided not to indict Wilson for the murder of Brown. The original Police Academy movie about a bunch of bumbling recruits starred Steve Guttenberg and Kim Cattrall. A total of seven Police Academy movies were made from 1984-1994, including two spin-off television shows.Read it at VarietyRead more at The Daily Beast.