Former NBA great and Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman was back in North Korea visiting Marshal Kim Jong Un this weekend. I headed down to the SoHo Grand Hotel to check in on Dennis. As he said at the opening, “The last time I had a turn out like this, was when I had my wedding dress. That was awesome.” This press conference was about as crazy.
After inadvertently revealing the name of the dictator’s new baby daughter, he sat for questions at a press conference in New York City. Dime was there to capture all the bizarre hijinks that ensued.
The press conference was a joint affair with Irish betting site, Paddy Power after Rodman’s second visit to the authoritarian regime in North Korea that’s largely been cut off from the outside world under their despot leader, Kim Jong Un. But Rodman thinks the leader of the totalitarian state is “a good guy,” and didn’t mind saying so countless times during a sometimes-rambling 30 minute Q&A session with reporters.
After Rodman met up with Paddy Power in Rome during his visit with the Pope, a plan was hatched to bring a basketball game to North Korea featuring North American stars and North Korea’s own basketball team.
Dennis said he’s going back to North Korea with a team of NBA stars to play against a North Korean team on January 8, which is also the Marshal’s birthday, plus a follow-up game on January 10.
Specifics for the match were not provided, but Dennis did mention former Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone as possible former NBA stars who might join him on his journey for basketball diplomacy. But he dismissed another famous teammate. “Michael Jordan, he won’t do it, because he’s Michael Jordan,” Rodman said.
While there was a lot of eye-rolling during the press conference, primarily by me, everyone sat rapt as Rodman attacked President Barack Obama, and even mentioned Syria — why he felt the need to delve into the tangled yarn of American foreign policy after repeatedly claiming his was not a political mission, is anyone’s guess. Rodman’s voice rose and it was obvious he was rankled by the idea he wasn’t taken seriously by the US President or other American political leaders.
“Why Obama, are you afraid to talk to Dennis Rodman? You’re not afraid to talk to Beyonce and Jay-Z, why not me? Why not me? I’m pretty important now, right? Let’s go. Talk to me. I’m right here. Do one thing. I have the inside track. Whatchu want to do? This is not 1953, this is 2013. This is a new era.”
Rodman will also be headed back to the closed off country on December 14 in order to help train North Korea’s basketball team in preparation for the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Keep reading for more from Dennis on after questions about jailed American Kenneth Bae.
After dispersing with the various soundbites about his proposed basketball game to “open up a dialogue” with North Korea, Rodman fielded some questions. Of particular interest was jailed American Kenneth Bae, who is currently serving 15 years hard labor in North Korea for supposed crimes against the state.
Rodman blew up at reporters who asked him about Bae right after he left North Korea, but — while it sometimes got heated — it failed to turn as overtly confrontational as earlier.
“He has to do his job but he’s a very good guy,” Rodman said. “If he [King Jong Un] wanted to bomb anybody in the world, he would have done it.”
On top of the Bae matter, other outlets wanted to know whether this was a smart trip for Rodman after so many claims from North Korean refugees about human rights violations in the autocratic country. Rodman was adamant that, “he [Un] is my friend,” and largely skirted around the Bae question — or any serious questions about the dictatorial reign of his “friend.”
Rodman also fielded a question from Michael Kosta of the new Fox Sports1 show “Crowd Goes Wild,” that had the rest of the assembled media cackling in delight.
Said Kosta: “Any chance The Marshal [Un] is using you to get to Scottie Pippen?” Kim Jong Un is a notorious Bulls fan. Rodman didn’t take the bait, though the question broke the tension in the room after the Bae questions, and the very real human rights issues currently being reported about the cloistered country.
Rodman introduced his interpreters on the trip towards the end of the press conference and they all concluded that the dialgue between Dennis and Jong Un was beneficial, though they failed to offer further information except that the former Defensive Player of the Year “charmed” the dictator and his friends.
Rodman, however, was unwavering in his appreciation for Un and the country of North Korea, who Dennis feels gets unfairly criticized by the American media.
“There’s one thing he’s always said to me, he said ‘Dennis, do one thing, tell the American people, we’re very cool.’ I said, ‘I know that, I know that.’ And the one thing about him, is he needs to keep an image, like Obama.”
While the press conference was an interesting opportunity to hear from a Hall of Fame basketball player that’s now met with one of the most isolated rulers in the world on two separate occasions, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth when you think about all of Rodman’s grandiose visions for diplomatic relations between the two contries. They simply aren’t feasible, and most in attendance at the presser understood that.
Kim Jong Un might have a reputation to uphold — as a cold-blooded dictator — but at what cost, and why is Rodman indulging Un’s boyhood fantasies about NBA stars he grew up watching by continuing to visit? Whenever we all stop snickering about Rodman’s carefree attitude about life and various affairs — both foreign and domestic — it would be nice to actually get Bae back with his family in the United States.
Maybe Rodman could ask Un about it when he returns to North Korea in December, instead of praising the “cool” dictator. We can’t wait to see which former NBA players — if any — agree to go to North Korea for the proposed scrimmage to celebrate Un’s birthday in January. It should be entertaining, like this press conference, if not conducive to any real diplomatic exchange of ideas.
Here’s the entire press conference:
What do you think?
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