Jeremy Piven and Adrian Grenier just reunited for the first time since 2015…and it’s not for an Entourage revival. Instead, the pair star in an advert for Betr, Jake Paul’s betting app. (The ad dropped Wednesday, September 8.) (Variety first broke the story.)
The commercial’s plot is taken straight out the Entourage playbook as a fast-talking hustler tracks down a washed-out movie star at a party and pitches him one more payday.
It’s safe to say that Doug Ellin was not amused by the similarities. He went off on X, writing: “I have zero positivity in watching things I busted my ass of on for years he turned into garbage seek. Zero positivity. Go create your own shit. And if you need money for Flip burgers. This is trash and theft. Period.” Ellin’s post landed on X the following day, September 9.
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This was after he’d already posted a reel of him venting on Instagram, calling the ad a “cheap, sh**ty imitation” that “makes me puke” and claimed he’d already received 400 messages about the “god-awful commercial.”
In that same Instagram video, Ellin took a direct shot at Piven, saying, “I had to beg Piven to do the show…now he’s back on it because he’s getting paid.”
Hey, we get it. Imagine pouring your heart and soul into a show only for it to get repackaged to sell sports bets, with zero involvement or even a heads-up (that we know of).
And Betr’s response? A savage non-apology that thanked Ellin for helping them “promote the ad.” (Betr also touted that the spot generated nearly 10 million organic social views in less than 24 hours, per a statement given to TheWrap.) I guess that’s Jake Paul for you…
But is Ellin’s outrage really necessary? It could be just the director being himself. As one X commentor sarcastically points out on the post: “Lol. Shocker. Doug Ellin is furious on Twitter again. Can anyone believe it? 😱”
We have to say, there is something oddly refreshing about Ellin’s take. These days, industry blowups usually get filtered through a publicist into some carefully worded, long-winded statement. Or, they are staged and ‘rage-baity’. This feels like neither.
Whether you agree with him or not, at least you know exactly how he feels.
So, we’d like to remind Ellin that imitation is the highest form of flattery (cheesy but true). Entourage clearly left enough of a mark that a gambling app took the blueprint for inspiration more than 15 years later.
A commentor on the Instagram post, @riseandgrind24, puts it best: “People were excited when they saw that today. It’s a testament to how amazing the show is and how badly the people want to see it and it’s characters again. I wouldn’t take it as an insult”
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Watch the full Betr ad below.
