Michael Jordan hits back after fake Donald Trump endorsement

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This Chicago Bulls great is seeing red.

Michael Jordan’s camp was forced to issue a statement after a post on social media went viral on Sunday, claiming the hoops legend was backing Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election.

The post on X falsely claimed that the six-time NBA champ has “become the latest to endorse Donald Trump for President.”

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It has since received 1.8 million views and was reposted and liked thousands of times before having a fact-check disclaimer added on the platform.

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On Monday, Jordan’s reps denied that he has endorsed either candidate in the race for the White House.

“There is absolutely no truth to the claim that Michael Jordan has made an endorsement in the presidential election,” Jordan’s reps told the Daily Mail.

The post claiming Jordan’s endorsement was questionable to begin with, as the six-time NBA champion has made an effort to keep his political leanings private for decades.

During the 2020 docuseries The Last Dance, which told the story Jordan’s final season with the Bulls, Jordan said, “I never thought of myself as an activist. I thought of myself as a basketball player.”

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In 1990, Jordan famously decided against publicly endorsing Harvey Gantt — a black democrat — during a North Carolina Senate race.

While some called on Jordan, who grew up in North Carolina, to endorse Gantt, the Bulls star instead commented that “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”

Gantt would lose the race to Republican candidate Jesse Helms.

Jordan also defended that comment during The Last Dance, saying, “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. 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.”

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Jordan also said that he has no problem with athletes standing up for their beliefs, but that he would stay out of it.

“I do commend Muhammad Ali for standing up for what he believed in,” Jordan said. “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.”

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