A viral X post shared Sunday claiming Michael Jordan had endorsed 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has been cast off as fake news after prompting a response from the basketball legend himself.
As of publishing, the erroneous X post, which reads “JUST IN: Michael Jordan becomes the latest to endorse Donald Trump for President” has received 1.8 million views, 7,500 reposts and 58,000 likes.
The post was flagged with additional context via X’s Community Notes feature, which stated that there was no evidence to back the claim and that as of Oct. 31, Jordan had endorsed neither Trump nor Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris.
Tuesday, Jordan’s representatives issued a statement to Independent, setting the record straight on the morning of Election Day.
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“There is absolutely no truth to the claim that Michael Jordan has made an endorsement in the presidential election,” Jordan’s camp told the publication.
Jordan, who is perhaps better known today for his massively popular Nike, Inc. offshoot Air Jordan sneaker line than for his on-court career, has long shied away from making public political endorsements.
One of Jordan’s most infamous brushes with politics came during North Carolina’s 1990 U.S. Senate Race, which pitted Republican Jesse Helms against Harvey Gantt, a Democrat. After being encouraged to endorse Gantt, Jordan refused, reportedly stating “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” In other words, Jordan didn’t want to risk losing business by publicly aligning with either candidate.
The quote would live as internet lore for decades, with many debating whether the former NBA great actually said it or not. Then, during ESPN’s 2020 “The Last Dance” series chronicling Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ legendary run in the 1990s, Jordan addressed the elephant in the room.
“I don’t think that statement needs to be corrected because I said it in jest on a bus with [former teammates] Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen,” said Jordan. “It was thrown off the cuff. My mother asked to do a PSA for Harvey Gantt, and I said, ‘Look, Mom, I’m not speaking out of pocket about someone that I don’t know. But I will send a contribution to support him.’ Which is what I did.
Once a fiercely competitive player and now a sharpened businessman, Jordan said he never considered himself to be a role model.
“It’s never going to be enough for everybody, and I know that,” he said in the 2020 documentary series. “I realize that. Because everybody has a preconceived idea for what I should do and what I shouldn’t do. The way I go about my life is I set examples. If it inspires you? Great, I will continue to do that. If it doesn’t? Then maybe I’m not the person you should be following.”
