Jordon Hudson has become increasingly more involved with the North Carolina football program.
On Wednesday, a report from The Athletic revealed that head coach Bill Belichick's girlfriend was "instrumental" in cancelling a previously planned HBO "Hard Knocks" series focused on the Tar Heels. The story states that Belichick was initially on board with the project, but production was halted when he never gave it final approval. It still cost North Carolina $200,000 in facilities fees.
The report comes amid Hudson's involvement in a CBS interview with Belichick that aired on Sunday, interjecting when interviewer Tony Dokoupil asked a question about how she and the former Patriots head coach first met.
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Belichick, 73, and Hudson, 24, have reportedly been dating since 2023, but their relationship became public in June 2024. Since Belichick took the head coaching job at UNC in December 2024, lots of reporting has come out detailing Hudson's involvement in his professional life.
Here's what to know about Jordon Hudson and the cancelled UNC "Hard Knocks" series.
Why was UNC 'Hard Knocks' canceled?
It is unclear exactly why UNC "Hard Knocks" was cancelled, but the production certainly needed Belichick's final approval as the head coach of the program, which he never provided.
UNC's general manager, Michael Lombardi, appeared on the "Pat McAfee Show" in March and weighed in on the matter, claiming the series was not going to align with how the football program wants to be portrayed.
“It would’ve been great,” Lombardi said. “The problem was...the story that we want to tell is about how we’re rebuilding this program...How we’re going to restore Tar Heel football, and make this stadium come alive on Saturday afternoons, like a lot of the other schools in the ACC... And when [the series] stops after the first game [against TCU] like 'Hard Knocks' does, it doesn’t really do us any good to tell that story. And that really was the concern that we all had here in the building."
MORE: How did Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson meet?
Jordon Hudson's involvement in 'Hard Knocks'
Hudson was a factor in cancelling 'Hard Knocks' per The Athletic's report, which cites “multiple industry sources briefed on the negotiations.”
The story claims that Hudson played an "instrumental role" in stopping the production, "related to her request to be heavily involved in the project.” NFL Films was due to begin filming on March 1 and would have spent two months on campus.
NFL V.P. of commercial operations and business affairs Jessica Boddy emailed North Carolina to say that NFL Films “will not proceed with the production of the Belichick project.”
She added, “The conversation took a turn we were not comfortable with.”