‘I Have Total Respect for That’: Michael Jordan Dismisses Trump Endorsement Claims Amid Fiery Backlash Over Rumored ‘Republicans Buy Sneakers Too’ Remark
Michael Jordan is setting the record straight when it comes to his endorsement for the next president of the United States.
This comes after a rumor was created on Twitter that the basketball legend had endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump who is running against the Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
An X user, uploaded a post with a photo of Jordan with the caption, “JUST IN: Michael Jordan becomes the latest to endorse Donald Trump for President.”
The Nov. 3 post got a lot of traction with over 58,000 likes and over 6,800 reposts. But Jordan quickly stepped in to shut down the fake claim and made it clear that he hasn’t made any public endorsements at all.
Speaking to The Independent on Nov. 5, his reps for the basketball legend said, “There is absolutely no truth to the claim that Michael Jordan has made an endorsement in the presidential election.”
Fans reacted to the statement by applauding Jordan for keeping his preference private.
On Daily Mail’s website, one fan said, “I’m glad he’s keeping his vote or no vote quiet. Regardless of who he supports. I have total respect for that. Class act and thank you.”
Another person assuming he backed Trump said, “Leave him alone some people prefer just stay out of it, it’s non of our business who he votes for. People are just trying to connect anyone to anyone without their knowledge.”
A third person said, “MJ stays out of drama and doesn’t involve himself into politics. Let him be. It’s his right.”
Which is exactly what Jordan has decided to do throughout his athletic career.
In the fifth episode of his ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries Jordan said, “I wasn’t a politician when I was playing my sport. I was focused on my craft. Was that selfish? Probably. But that was my energy. That’s where my energy was.”
He also addressed his infamous quote “Republicans buy shoes too” which came during the 1990 North Carolina Senate race between Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt. The quote was documented in the book “The Second Coming” by sports writer and author Sam Smith and was even re-quoted replacing the terms “shoes” with the term “sneakers.”
In 2016, Slate published an article stating that Jordan’s spokesperson Estee Portno sent them an email denying Jordan ever made the statement.
“I don’t think that statement needs to be corrected because I said it in jest on a bus with Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen. It was thrown off the cuff,” said Jordan on “The Last Dance” in 2020.
Michael Jordan says he doesn’t need to apologize for the “Republicans buy sneakers too” statement because it was ‘made in jest’ pic.twitter.com/jJL4Hr5ERv
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) May 4, 2020
“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.”
The son of Deloris Jordan added, “I do commend Muhammad Ali for standing up for what he believed in. But I never thought of myself as an activist. I thought of myself as a basketball player.”