Ben Stiller Says His Late Father Jerry 'Would Have Loved' Celebrating New York Knicks' NBA Finals Win
Ben Stiller Says His Late Father Jerry 'Would Have Loved' Celebrating New York Knicks' NBA Finals Win
Tommy McArdleFri, June 19, 2026 at 3:40 PM UTC
0
Ben Stiller on June 18, 2026; Jerry Stiller on Oct. 11, 2012Credit: Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock; Shahar Azran/WireImage -
Ben Stiller spoke to his father Jerry Stiller's love of the New York Knicks during an interview on CNN after he attended the team's championship parade in New York City on Thursday, June 18
Jerry, like Ben, maintained a frequent presence on Madison Square Garden's courtside seats for Knicks games; he died at 92 in 2020
Ben announced June 17 that he will direct a documentary series on the Knicks' history following the team's first NBA Finals win in 53 years
Ben Stiller is thinking of his father, the legendary comedian Jerry Stiller, as he continues to celebrate the New York Knicks' NBA Finals win.
Ben, 60, appeared on CNN's The Source with Kaitlan Collins on Thursday, June 18 after he attended the team's celebratory parade in New York City earlier that day and announced he will direct a documentary on the history of the Knicks in collaboration with HBO and A24. Ben's father Jerry, who died at 92 in 2020, was a lifelong New Yorker who frequently attended Knicks games at Madison Square Garden with his son over the years. (Jerry shared son Ben and daughter Amy Stiller with his wife Anne Meara, who died at 85 in 2015.)
"He would have gotten a kick out of it. He loved going to games. He always got a kick out of people actually even recognizing him or if a player recognized him, he always thought that was great, because he was just a kid from the Lower East Side who grew up really poor and realized his dream," Ben said of Jerry, when Kaitlan Collins asked how Jerry would have felt about the celebrations. "So going to Madison Square Garden, watching basketball games, we enjoyed it together. And I know he always had a ball and would love this. He would have loved this."
Ben Stiller and Jerry Stiller at a New York Knicks game on April 8, 2012Credit: James Devaney/WireImage
The Knicks won their first NBA title in 53 years when they defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 13. Ben was among the team's most visible celebrity supporters throughout the playoff run and attended the final game of the season in San Antonio alongside other celebrity Knicks fans like Timothée Chalamet, Josh Safdie, Tracy Morgan, Spike Lee, John Turturro and Sydney Sweeney. Stiller has been filming footage from the playoff ru and the ensuing celebrations in N.Y.C.
Ben's yet-to-be-titled documentary series on the Knicks' history will follow "the full arc of the franchise from the '90s to the improbable, record-breaking run that finally returned a championship to New York," and will give audiences "unprecedented NBA access, never-before-seen footage, and a definitive look at one of basketball's most iconic stories," according to A24.
Advertisement
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Ben Stiller and Jerry Stiller at a New York Knicks game on April 8, 2012Credit: James Devaney/WireImage
"This team, what they've done, it really changed the whole perspective, I think, of the story because you have a team now that did something historic," Stiller said of the project during his interview with Collins. "When you look at it as a bookend to the '99 series, or even when you look at this team in relation to the '73 championship series, there's a lot of layers to it. This team, they've kind of given us an amazing ending. What I'm guessing is by the time we're finished making the documentary next year, they're going to screw it up because they'll win it again. And then we'll have to go back and re-edit."
"I always film at the games anyway, just for fun. And I do landscape mode just because I'm old and I like that better," he added. "But that's just always been fun for me. And then it just sort of evolved as the doc became a reality, it's like, 'Oh, I could use some of this footage.' "
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
