Michael Jordan gives his thoughts on Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refusing to stand for the national anthem (Timestamped 2:40)
MJ was always diplomatic and tried to stay away from making it about his opinions. To this day nobody knows where he stands on a lot of things and that’s truly remarkable discipline considering how fascinated the world has been with his every word for the past 40 years.
republicans buy sneakers too
he did say he said it in jest on the team bus in Last Dance, not publicly
That quote was known about before the doc
Because a reporter heard the joke between teammates and ran with it. That doesn’t really change the context.
And I’m not making excuses for it, not my favorite quote, but he’s also donated a lot, including to medical facilities and hospitals during COVID. Not trying to make him a saint either, but it was a shitty joke made between friends. Just because it was well known before the doc doesn’t change the context of how and when it was said.
Huh?
I genuinely don’t know what you’re saying here.
Nobody thinks the quote is pro-republican.
It’s very decidedly anti-republican. He’s saying he doesn’t give any opinions because he knows that the ones he holds, Republicans wouldn’t like so he keeps it to himself since he doesn’t wanna mess with his money.
it was actually his response when asked why he refused to endorse a black democrat after his mom had called him and asked him to do as a favor.
An endorsement is an opinion on a person.
Nothing I said was wrong lol.
just providing context bro nobody accusing you of anything
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Again…an endorsement is an opinion on a person lmao.
“Couldn’t have been more wrong”…even if it wasn’t directly about opinions (it is) I’m entirely correct in that he wouldn’t say anything to piss off Republicans because he wants them to buy his shoes lol.
Does being brain dead hurt?
Other commenters tripping bro, you make a very plain/fair assessment
When you don’t say anything anti-republican it’s anti-republican for sure dude
Lol how soft are you ?
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God it’s uncanny how clearly this wasn’t written by a human being.
Another oracle who can smoke out bots and AI comments on sight. Do you now see it everywhere? Must be a terrible, but essential, burden you carry. A true service you’re doing 🫡 A reddit veteran. Not sure what we’d all do without you.
The fact it was a joke at republicans expense, and you cant tell that, says an awful lot about this country.
I know it was at Republican’s expense. But I’m replying to the comment above who said “it was a shitty joke amongst friends”, implying they thought it was either a poorly executed joke or it was inappropriate due to who was being targeted with the joke.
Are you guys this blinded by the agenda of OPs post that you can’t even look at the club text of the comments being written?
“Agenda” “liberal sensibilities” lmao. You guys are unreal. You picking fights with boogeymen and then get uspet when called out
This might surprise you, but the word ‘agenda’ is used in countless other contexts outside of politics.
You made a comment that incorrectly assumed something and now you’re getting defensive. It’s okay, you’re not going to feel better by thinking you one-upped somebody on Reddit.
Just relax and go play your video games. 15k comments on Reddit isn’t healthy for a person. What do you losers say? Go touch grass.
never said it wasn’t
Exactly what someone playing all the sides would say.
Kareem the GOAT FTW
But why does that make him republican. That sounds like someone who doesn’t want to pick a side even if he’s joking
It doesn’t mean he’s a Republican, but it’s a fundamentally conservative sentiment. I’m sure he didn’t mean it to be this deep, but that kind of idea is an implicit endorsement of the status quo. This is the way the world is; don’t try to change it. What matters is getting that paper by any means necessary. Don’t rock the boat, etc.
Getting that paper by any means is just an American attitude. All those tech companies that were so liberal ten years ago flipped when it became more financially beneficial to flip. MJ is just a capitalist to the furthest extent
Its 100% not a conservative or liberal idea. its literally just understanding you don’t try to deter 50% of your potential buyers.
All the restaurants that make their political affiliation known before you walk in the door is wild to me, so many people will see that and walk away without considering it further. Might leave bad reviews without even eating there.
You think Nike would have been happy with MJ if he said something like “i hope the 50% of the population that has these views should not buy my shoes”?
America is a conservative country so that checks out
Most global super powers are
lol nobody said he was republican? go copy and paste those words into Google real quick and you’ll get my joke
Who gave this an award lmfao
Not Nike tho, according to Ted Cruz. You see, they did one thing he didn’t like 9 years ago, and y’allqaeda has been after them ever since.
tf are you even talking about bro lmao
I think he was referencing Kaepernick
Must be exhausting to make that shit your entire personality like that guy
I mean this is post literally about the politics of having the anthem in sports and players refusing to participate in that.
Yea but what I said was a joke. He’s legitimately mad go look at his responses to me
Ah.
I see.
No worries bro, would take too long to explain.
nice, thanks for sparing me
Less about that and more about the amount of remedial education it would take. You can’t afford it, so don’t worry about it.
lmao oh you’re actually mad? I thought we were joking around
bro, Jordan said that when asked why he wouldn’t publicly endorse a black democrat after Jordan’s mom called and asked him to as a favor. My comment was a reference to that as a joke. LIke it’s literally the exact quote. I thought that was common knowledge my fault that you misinterpreted it or took it personally.
I’m so confused by what you’re trying to say
He endorsed a local Democrat that same year IIRC
Don’t forget the Israel quote.
in that interview, he made his stance pretty clear. he was just being tactful.
he stated his opinion that Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf should be free to practice his religion and that we should respect his viewpoints, because in America you are free to practice whatever religion you choose. he also said that if it wasn’t an issue all season then make it a big deal now and potentially hurt the NBA’s reputation and his career.
He’s pretty clear on where he stands here though. He defends his right and supports the player.
He said that but also talked about the reputation of the league and handling things behind closed doors before it got to the point of being an issue. Today’s media would have grilled him over every word. Back then, he could make everybody happy with thoughts on both perspectives.
I think he’s a liberal who doesn’t want to alienate anybody. Most of his political donations have been to Democrats and he has donated money to many social justice organizations.
Dude opened like 10 free clinics and other community service things all over North Carolina
that’s my goat
Most of his political donations have been to Democrats and he has donated money to many social justice organizations.
Rich people donate to both sides. You and like 99% of Rddt need to get your head out of your asses with this crap you posted. Durr he donated to the Democrats so that makes him one. That’s all BS.
Michael Jordan has never donated to a single republican or conservative cause.
He clearly was of the thinking that Abdul Rauf was within his rights and shouldn’t ostracized for it and it was a bad look for the NBA. How could you possibly watch that video and say you can’t tell where he stood …
To this day nobody knows where he stands on a lot of things
Ya we do, he stands with money.
? He clearly said that he should be able to practice his religion. Whats your comment?
He’s good at keeping it on topic, very specific to the actual problem at hand. This happened in the NFL in recent times and what happened with Kaepernick was a canon event at this point, so much of our cultural divisions stem from the national anthem stuff. It became this question of what people should be allowed to do in America politically, and just went so far beyond a really isolated thing.
“To this day nobody knows where stands on a lot of things” Michael Jordan cis clearly a center lefter democrat. He held a fundraiser for Harvey Grant. He endorsed Bill Bradley in 2000. Obama. And has donated to multiple dnc and democratic political parties. He’s never once endorsed a republican or right wing cause.
He’s also donated over a million to NAACP, BLM, and the African American Mursuem
He just doesn’t broadcast it everywhere like the average celebrity does.
MJ is pro USA
no degenerate gambler can be anything but an American red, white and blue lover and eagle tear jerker
Though there was that time he said something like “Republicans buy shoes”
I grew up watching MJ. I believe he’s the goat but….. I also believe he’s a pretty floored individual who doesn’t deserve to be seen as a role-model, unless it’s on the basketball court.
MJ’s biggest concern was and will always be MJ.
I’ll always respect MAR for standing up for his principles and beliefs, even in the face of enormous financial loss and threats to his career. That’s a pretty good gauge of someone’s character.
MJ on the other hand, disowned his own sister after she accused their dad of sexual abuse
The word you’re looking for is coward good God the lengths you guys will go to to glaze this Republican piece of shit are out of pocket
Pathetic 😂😂😂
“always diplomatic”
Bahahahahahah
I think he didn’t want to play the lebron game of being an activist on most issues and either staying silent on issues like we have with the war or being on the wrong side of issues like criticizing Morey for Free Tibet tweet. His activism would’ve also been compared to that of Ali and Kareem which would’ve put him in tough spot.
Also, Kobe, Shaq have similar “nobody knows where he stands on lot of things”. Charles Barkley says one thing and support another.
Chuck is pretty transparent and is obvious where he stands on stuff. his social stances are like the average American
Chuck is not transparent at all. he has been pretty awful with the Bruce Pearl stuff and had ‘money money money’ stance when LIV were courting him
I don’t think you know what transparent means
waht about that? has nothing to do with politics
you tell me. nothing comes up in searches besides Barkley joking that he didn’t want to be co-commentators with Bruce
then fuck are you acting like expert for if you don’t know? with allies like y’all
chuck basically sponsored auburn basketball for racist ass bruce pearl and his nepo baby and then got him job with tnt.
I aint acting like nothing. nothing showed up in search results. that’s why I’m asking you
He golfs with Trump
source needed
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/24/trump-on-lebron-james-michael-jordan/91042378007/
Not that I trust him, but Trump claims it.
I think he just doesn’t really have opinions on stuff because he’s so self absorbed lol…
that makes no sense. a self-absorbed person would want to air out their opinions
Jordan pretty much never did media and stayed out the limelight following retirement
self absorbed does not mean narcissist… just means his world is small because he’s focused on himself
People criticising MJ for his answer likely didn’t even watch the video. He was correct in saying that Mahmoud had the freedom to practice his religion, shouldn’t be judged for his beliefs, and both him and the league should have come to some sort of compromise….so what’s the problem?
The problem is that it’s reasonable and thought out. Not just an out of context, rage inducing headline. Is this your first day dealing with Americans!?
Unfortunately no, it’s not my first time, lol.
How is, “this is America and he should be free to practice his religion without judgement” being politically correct and saying nothing?
Good for him then. He’s smart and the GOAT
LeBron stans desperately wanting something else to criticise him for because they don’t have much basketball related ammunition in the debate.
the fact that you just had to bring up LeBron some how says a lot
the kind of comment you see on facebook espn posts
No one loves to bring up LeBron in a non-LeBron post quite like Bron haters 🫡 you guys are the real MVPs.
rent free
The first few comments here are a fucking joke.
Good response by MJ - he came off incredibly reasonable.
He’s actually more supportive of Mahmoud than Mahmoud’s fellow Muslim Hakeem Olajuwon who criticized Mahmoud
Personally not shocked. Most immigrants I know are far more “fall in line”-types or even openly Patriotic regardless of their political beliefs. It’s also important that you don’t seem disloyal if you’re new here and are seeking citizenship or just got it. Which was the case with Olojuwon.
Stop putting words in that man’s mouth. Here are his comments:
“Hakeem Olajuwon, the star center for the two-time defending N.B.A. champion Houston Rockets, said that the Koran teaches respect for the customs and traditions in whichever country one lives. It’s tough for me to understand his position,” Olajuwon said of Abdul-Rauf’s stance, “but in general the Muslim teaching is to obey and respect. To be a good Muslim is to be a good citizen.” Nothing in Islamic teachings would bar standing during the national anthem or wearing the United States flag, as Olajuwon will do at the Olympics this summer, he said.
“The difference must be distinguished between worship and respect,” he said. “Islam orders you to obey and respect, as long as you are not worshiping anything other than God. The Koran teaches respect for all people. That’s why it’s so important that people understand that there is a difference between respect and worship. People that worship the flag should also understand that there is a difference. Islam is a religion of peace. You don’t attack. You explain.””
Nothing about what he said indicates a “fall in line” mentality. He disagreed with the stance and laid out his reasons. It’s fairly insulting to reduce that to him being an immigrant.
Nothing there contradicts my point.
“To be a good Muslim is to be a good citizen”
Yeah okay buddy. Protesting and critiquing your country as well as exercising your faith in the way you see fit so long as it doesn’t hurt other people IS being a “good citizen”. And yes, as I stated before, I’ve heard a whole heap of immigrants share sentiments that people shouldn’t do that.
Trump got a lot of Muslim and Hispanic votes in 2024.
Trump got a lot of Muslim votes in 2024 because the Democrats by and large were openly complicit and supportive of the slaughter of Muslims in Palestine. Not saying that it was a wise or the right decision, but that’s largely why.
And Republicans aren’t?
This binary Republican vs Democrat logic is deeply reductive. Of course Republicans are ghoulish. I’m not denying that for a second. However, we’re talking about a genocide, genuinely the worst crime that anyone can be complicit in, and a Democratic party that knowingly actively aided in and covered for. This is the ultimate moral red line that has been crossed and cannot be excused or normalized on any terms. Again, I’m not saying that voting for Republicans is a wise decision at all. What I am saying, though, is that shaming people who voted for them or didn’t vote because they were understandably enraged at the people enabling the mass slaughter and suffering of their friends and family is a complete misdirection of such shaming and energy, which should instead be pointed at the people who were actually carrying out the genocide.
Just echoing what you said: Outrage should be reserved for republican voters who continuously vote for discriminatory and otherwise generally harmful policies. Meanwhile we need to learn to understand and empathize with marginalized communities if we want them to continue to turn out and vote democrat. One reason that we sometimes see a dip or even reversal in voting patterns for some marginalized groups (voting republican) is because they’re sick of being seen as such a reliable voting block that you don’t have to do anything to appeal to them.
If democrats want those marginalized groups that have a pattern of overwhelmingly voting democrat to continue supporting them, then they need to actually listen to those voices and deliver for them. I think it’s also problematic that we always blame minorities for these losses rather than accepting the fact that it’s white men that tend to hand these victories to conservatives. Don’t blame the outlier, blame the people who consistently vote against everyone’s best interests, including their own.
Addendum: but also feel free to blame the never vote no matter what crowd. Those people piss me off. It’s one thing to sit out an election because you don’t feel represented, it’s another to simply never vote at all because “I don’t do politics.”
This is an interesting discussion so I just want to hop in lol- although I agree with the overall premise of what you’re saying, it felt like this was still a situation with a clear answer. Harris’ time on the senate is seen as the “second most liberal” overall behind Elizabeth Warren (according to Govtrack and Voteview). She has a record of often going along with public opinion rather than staying purely stagnant on a topic (ie the way Biden was a self proclaimed Zionist). She has publicly said Israel has a right to defend itself but then when pro Palestine protests were sweeping the nation, her tone shifted (slightly) to demand a ceasefire. The point is she showed a willingness to actually listen to public opinion on Israel in a way literally no president had ever done before. Was it because she had a genuine change of heart? Of course not. She’s very clearly a smarmy politician. I’m not a Kamala fan, by any means, but the alternative of allowing Netanyahus butt buddy to run things as a pro Palestine voter just makes zero sense to me. Being angry about the government allowing a genocide makes perfect sense, but we had an opportunity to give hope to Palestinians that maybe we’d elect a leader who mayyyyyy listen. Instead, we said fuck it and threw our hands up and now I’d be surprised if Palestine exists at all by the end of trumps third term. And it was pretty obvious the whole time that this would be the case
Exactly. The logic doesn’t make sense. Trump fully endorses and is expanding the conflict. Biden at least put stipulations on any aid
Democrats have to be nearly perfect. Not just “better” than republicans to get any support. Or else they get accused of being exactly the same.
the logic makes no sense. Trump ran on being a peace president despite REpublicans open history of contempt towards muslims and even the republican congress under Biden being in lockstep with Israel.
Trump told the muslims that voted for him what they wanted to hear.
Trump said that he wanted to demolish Gaza and turn it into a beachfront resort.
How is that better?!
We know the real reason why he got so many Muslim votes.
Some of these idiots probably didn’t even watch the vid or listen to what he said. That’s Reddit for ya.
Needs to be in TikTok form for most of the active posters in here these days.
Clearly was treading delicately, but no clue why anyone would take issue with this response
Boiled down to, “should have been handled by the league and Mahmoud before it got to this point to avoid a public controversy, but this is America and Mahmoud is entitled to his religious beliefs and to his decision not to act in way that goes against those beliefs”
I don’t know why this got dredged up randomly but I don’t see anything that he said that crosses any reasonable lines. He supports Abdul-Rauf’s rights to stand for what he believes in, though he finds the way things have been playing out at that time to be unfortunate and could have been handled better.
So many “republicans buy sneakers” jokes as if MJ didn’t stand there and vocally support his peer’s decision. That’s not a republican mindset.
So many people just want to rush in with the low-effort karma grab post without even watching shit.
Yeah, defending someone exerting their religious rights, especially non-Christian ones in the US, is absolutely taking a clear political stance
So odd that defending the first amendment is a political stance these days but here we are.
I think the lack of support for Craig Hodges reveals more about Jordan than the “Republicans buy sneakers too” quote, or even his quote on Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
Literally nothing wrong with what MJ said but people on Rddt are thirsty to turn this into a divisive discussion.
Why are there so many posts about Abdul Rauf today?
First thing i thought of
The fact that Shaq said he passed away so confidently makes it even funnier.
it’s so wildly out-of-pocket i honestly cant believe it.
Billy Ray Bates is very much alive
sins of the past
The pledge of allegiance, standing for the national anthem, and etcetera is all objectively silly anyways.
The Pledge of Allegiance is creepy and the National Anthem should be Rob Zombie’s “Let the bodies hit the floor”.
Bodies is by Drowning Pool. Not Rob Zombie
Fair point…
I recommend that anyone interested in a good book about the intersection of black athletes, politics, and social justice read The Heritage: Black Athletes, A Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism by Howard Bryant. He writes a bit about Jordan’s approach to social justice issues, generally keeping quiet, sometimes quietly donating to causes, or in the case of Craig Hodges, being part of the reason he was blackballed from the NBA. https://howardbryantbooks.com/the-heritage
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf playing on the Bulls would have been amazing
Started off shakey, but made some very well thought out statements that made a lot of sense.
For such an iconic figure MJ actually stumbles over his words a lot lol. We just never noticed because we’re blinded by the aura
Based
Lebron played against podcasters and gamers
Shows how certain people with MJ Derrangement Syndrome are when they are getting soiling himself over this. Fannies.
I think he gave an honest answer
Yeah. He says Rauf has freedom of religion in the US, but he knows the rules and has to honour his contract, and also he may be hurting the league’s reputation but a compromise is in everyone’s interest.
So he supported Rauf. I think.
For Mj, that old saying “the answer is money. Now what’s your question?” Has never been more true.
“This guy disagrees with my political views, so he’s pretty much a piece of shit”
Reddit in a nutshell.
well considering one side of political “view” is crushing human dignity, it’s totally fair to have that opinion.
also, reddit in nutshell when it’s grassroots for current right wing movement
I think the OP means that about some of the other comments here
Yeah probably. My bad.
My e-peen gets a little harder when this board proves me right.
What did Jordan say that could be considered sitting on the fence?
Sitting on the fence is him saying that Mahmoud should be free to practice his religion and beliefs, he shouldn’t be judged for it, and the NBA should have come to an agreement with him despite the league’s rules regarding the anthem…?
That’s exactly what he said.
Wasn’t he being supportive of Mahmoud?
What’s not surprising? That he (MJ) supports freedom of speech and freedom of religion? I think most people support the constitution. The ones who don’t are the ones who removed ownership restrictions on media companies, are suing the BBC while hiding from subpoenas, paying to redact their names from the [redacted]-Epstein files, and trying to force their religion, who doesn’t even follow their own teachings, down everyone else’s throat.
I’m not the biggest fan of MJ’s political stance- but I agree that everyone has the right to freedom of expression.
MJ is nothing if not a complete asshole
Steve Nash is one of the best PG’s of all time.