Each year, the NBA championship-winning team makes a trip to the White House to see the president of the United States of America. Winning the title six times meant Michael Jordan would have made multiple trips to the White House. Sam Smith, in his latest book, revealed that there was a time when MJ omitted the White House trip and faced some massive flak for it.

Jordan has always been a man of his own will. He has made controversial career decisions that made many point fingers at him. Back in 1991, he won the first of many NBA rings but decided to skip the much-coveted visit to the White House for a disturbing reason.

Michael Jordan stood up against meeting the POTUS

After winning the NBA Championship title, Jordan was supposed to make a trip to the White House with his teammates. But he decided to skip meeting the POTUS for some reason. After the press questioned him for the reason behind his unavailability, he lashed out at the journalists.

Jordan said, “It’s none of your business. If you want to ask me what I did, I don’t have to tell you. I have to live my life the way I want to live it. I might want to know what you did, but I’m not asking you.”

The NBA legend missed his first meet-and-greet with former POTUS Bush, but he did make further trips to the White house in his subsequent wins. However, what caused him to stay back in the first instance?

Why did Michael Jordan give the White House a miss?

MJ made it clear that he had no intentions to give an answer to them as he didn’t feel that he owed anyone an answer. But it was later revealed that he had made a trip to take part in his favorite leisure activity: gambling. Jordan has previously admitted to being addicted to gambling.

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Jordan was serious when it came to gambling. He even once threatened to extort money over an unpaid debt.

He allegedly said, “Don’t fu****g play with me,” before demanding payment. People close to Jordan were no strangers to the fact that the six-time champion was a brutal addict. He once said this to everyone, “Debts are paid. Card game’s over. You owe me.” 

Did Jordan make a good choice in skipping the White House ceremony? Let us know in the comments below.

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