Throughout his career, Michael Jordan has endorsed everything from cereal to luxury watches, not to mention, of course, his line of athletic shoes. However, the NBA legend recently had to clarify his stance on the impending presidential election.
A day before people headed to the polls to cast their votes in one of the closest elections in decades, a post featuring Jordan began to go viral on social media.
The message claimed that the former player had become “the latest to endorse Donald Trump for president.” The message was accompanied by a photo of a younger Jordan, but nothing else.
Netizens were quick to add context to the post on X (formerly Twitter), clarifying that Jordan had never endorsed any candidate in his career and had not done so this time either. Still, representatives for the player were quick to deny the alleged endorsement.
Jordan’s clarification
In statements to The Independent, representatives of the former player flatly denied the assertions in the post. “There is absolutely no truth to the claim that Michael Jordan has made an endorsement in the presidential election,” the statement said.
Jordan has always been very discreet about his political preferences. In this election, he has been careful not to speak for or against Trump or Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
In a statement in his documentary “The Last Dance,” Jordan said, “I never thought of myself as an activist. I thought of myself as a basketball player. I wasn’t a politician when I was playing my sport.”
He admitted his admiration for the late boxer Muhammad Ali for his civil rights advocacy but explained that he preferred to focus exclusively on his career. “Was that selfish? Probably. But that was my energy. That’s where my energy was,” he said.
The LeBron James factor
Jordan’s fake post began circulating a few hours after Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron Jamespublicly endorsed Harris. “What are we even talking about here?? When I think about my kids and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me. VOTE KAMALA HARRIS!!!,” James wrote on X.
Although it is impossible to prove it, some analysts believe that Jordan’s fake post could have been a countermeasure to James’ authentic endorsement. With the elections already underway and with polls so close, every vote counts, or at least that is what whoever crafted that fake post could have thought.
