Michael Jordan’s representatives have strenuously denied that the NBA legend has endorsed Donald Trump ahead of this week’s presidential election.
On the eve of the much-anticipated vote, rumors flooded social media that MJ was backing Trump in his battle against vice president Kamala Harris.
Many athletes from across sports have publicly supported their preferred candidate, including LeBron James – who endorsed Harris – and Nick Bosa, who wore a Make America Great Again hat after a recent game.
But Jordan has steered clear of backing either nominee. In a statement to DailyMail.com, his representatives said: ‘There is absolutely no truth to the claim that Michael Jordan has made an endorsement in the presidential election.’
The six-time NBA champion, whose star power endures decades after he retired, is notoriously private.
He is barely active on social media and has rarely revealed his political allegiances.
Most famously, during a 1990 Senate race in his home state of North Carolina, Jordan opted not to publicly back Democrat Harvey Gantt.
Gantt was an African American running against Republican Jesse Helms, described by the Equal Justice Initiative as ‘a seminal leader of the segregationist movement’.
But Jordan chose not to use his platform to back Gantt, uttering the infamous phrase: ‘Republicans buy sneakers, too.’
Back in 2020, on the hit show The Last Dance, Jordan explained the controversial comment.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.
‘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. 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.’
Back in 2018, however, Jordan said he ‘supported’ James after the NBA star became embroiled in a spat with Trump, who declared: ‘I like Mike!’
