Michael Jordan speaks out as fake Donald Trump endorsement goes viral

Michael Jordan's camp was forced to speak out after a viral social media post suggested the NBA legend had endorsed Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

On Sunday there was a post on

The post immediately went viral, garnering thousands of likes and reposts. But the following day, Jordan's representatives denied that he had endorsed either candidate in the White House race.

“The claim that Michael Jordan endorsed the presidential election is absolutely untrue,” Jordan’s representatives told The Independent.

The basketball legend has made a conscious effort to keep his political views secret over the years. The same applies to his private life.

As he put it while filming his 2020 documentary “The Last Dance,” Jordan said, “I never saw myself as an activist. I saw myself as a basketball player.”

Back in 1990, Jordan decided against publicly supporting Democrat Harvey Gantt during a Senate election in North Carolina.

Gantt, a black Democrat, challenged Jesse Helms for a Senate seat in North Carolina.

Some urged Jordan, who grew up in North Carolina, to support Gantt and do a commercial with him.

But instead, Jordan famously uttered the words, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” Helms won the race.

The NBA icon explained the controversial comment in “The Last Dance” by saying, “I don't think that statement needs to be corrected because I said it jokingly on the bus with Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen.”

“It was thrown off the cuff. My mom asked to do a PSA for Harvey Gantt and I said, 'Look, Mom, I'm not speaking out of my own pocket about someone I don't know.' But I will send a post to support him.” And that’s exactly what I did,” he continued.

“I commend Muhammad Ali for standing up for what he believed in. But I never saw myself as an activist. I saw myself as a basketball player. I wasn’t a politician when I played my sport.”

“I focused on my craft. Was that selfish? Probably. But that was my energy. That’s where my energy lay,” he added.

It comes just days after LeBron James endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as president.

“What are we even talking about here?” the Lakers star wrote on X. When I think about my children and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me. VOTE FOR KAMALA HARRIS!!!”

Along with his message, he also released a video that included a montage of clips of Trump's speeches, some from the recent Madison Square Garden rally, and some videos from civil rights protests, which included the lyrics “Hate Takes Us Back” at the very end.

James, 39,'s endorsement came as no surprise after he supported the Joe Biden-Harris ticket in the 2020 election.