Celebs Who Turned Down White Home Invitations

After profitable the 1991 NBA finals, Michael Jordan turned down an invite from George H.W. Bush and performed golf as an alternative. “I did not wish to go. I had one thing else to do,” he instructed Playboy (by way of Ball Is Life), including that the opposite Bulls had been conscious he wasn’t attending.

The legendary basketball star wasn’t brazenly crucial of Bush or the Republican social gathering. In truth, when he was requested to endorse a Democratic candidate in 1990 and declined, Jordan defined his thought course of with a quip: “Republicans purchase footwear, too.” In an ESPN documentary, years later, he defined that he by no means had time for activism or politics within the NBA. “I used to be targeted on my craft,” Jordan added. “Was that egocentric? In all probability. However that was my power. That is the place my power was.” The participant insisted that he did not make political statements in these days.

One other Bull had a special rationalization for Jordan lacking the White Home assembly, nonetheless. Craig Hodges, who had performed with Jordan within the 1991 and 1992 finals, identified that he went on to play golf with Democrat president Invoice Clinton. “You already know, MJ isn’t publicly political however he can deal with his affairs,” he instructed Respect journal in 2017. “When he did not come to the White Home, it was an announcement.” Hodges defined that Jordan wasn’t reprimanded by sponsors as a result of he was such a giant title on the time. “However I understood the place he was coming from and that Bush wasn’t his homie.”