First some considered him an embarrassment as a Black man due to his strange antics, now even more are beginning to consider him an embarrassment as an American; Dennis Rodman is at it again!
The lip-gloss popping, boa wearing, former Hall of Fame hoop star known to rock a wedding dress is once again in North Korea with his BFF, Kim Jung Un.
Oh, but he did not go alone this time, he took other former NBA players and Harlem Globetrotters with him. Joining Rodman were a dozen players, including Vin Baker and Cliff Robinson, who went there to participate in an exhibition game for Un’s birthday. Rodman calls it “basketball diplomacy.”
“People say so many negative things about North Korea. And I want people in the world to see it’s not that bad,” Rodman told The Associated Press in an interview outside his hotel. “Somehow we have to get along, and no matter what disagreements or what discrepancy we have in life. It’s like saying: Why do we have the Olympics? When everyone one comes together in the Olympics, there’s no problems. That’s what I’m doing. That’s all I’m doing.”
Well, we think that this is no Olympics game vying for who is the best in sport amongst “friendly” nations. Un has been accused of ordering the brutal beatings, imprisonments and killings of more than 100,000 people; anyone that he feels is against him, including his own family members. Not to mention that the United States is at odds with North Korea over their nuclear weapons programs.
Still, Rodman says he is an athlete, not a politician and Un is still his friend.
“People always say that North Korea is a really communist country. I just know the fact that to me, he’s a nice guy to me. Whatever he does that’s political-wise in his country, that’s not my job,” Rodman told reporters as he strolled through the airport surrounded by a group of smiling entourage and/ or security team in green shirts.
Let’s just hope Rodman stays on Un’s good side – and let them win a couple of games – all in the name of “diplomacy.”