On Nov. 3, 2024, just two days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, social media posts on X appeared claiming that Michael Jordan, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, had endorsed former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. The purported news spread quickly and was celebrated by Trump's supporters.
(X user @TheRoyalSerf)
However, the rumor was not true — Jordan did not announce an endorsement for either Trump or his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. In a statement released to two separate U.K. outlets, The Independent and The Daily Mail, a representative for Jordan said the claim was false: "There is absolutely no truth to the claim that Michael Jordan has made an endorsement in the presidential election."
Jordan is widely known for keeping his political views close to his chest. During the 1990 U.S. Senate election, Jordan refused to endorse North Carolina Democrat Harvey Gantt in his campaign against Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, famously saying "Republicans buy sneakers, too."
In the 2020 documentary series "The Last Dance," which documented Jordan's illustrious career with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan said he felt that comment did not need to be defended because it was said in jest.
"I do commend Muhammad Ali for standing up for what he believed in," he added. "But I never thought of myself as an activist. I thought of myself as a basketball player."