Michael Jordan hosted the first episode of the 17th season of Saturday Night Live back in 1991. Such was Jordan’s fame even at that time that Chris Rock told Complex about the measures that had to be taken to keep the cast away from the basketball star.
“He was the biggest star that’d ever done the show,” Rock said. “Normally, we have famous people on every week. Nobody asks for autographs, anything. Yo, everybody wanted to… They had to put a guard, a policeman outside Michael Jordan’s dressing room for the cast.”
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As Rock, a cast member at SNL from 1990 to 1993, pointed out, big names came on the show all the time. No one on set ever made much of a fuss, but when Jordan came around, they couldn’t help themselves. The fact that a policeman had to be stationed in front of his door lets you know just how bad things might have gotten.
Jordan had only won one championship at the time, and Jordanmania would only go up with time. He went on to win six NBA titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, a DPOY, and 10 scoring titles in his career to establish himself as the greatest player of all time.
Jordan also launched the Jordan Brand in 1997, and it’s become one of the most popular ones in the world now. The brand has teamed up with some big names over time as well, and rapper Macklemore told Complex about Jordan’s hilarious reaction to his custom sneakers.
“The 6 was still in the design phase,” Macklemore said. “I showed him the shoe. I have two pairs, I got the greens and the clays. And he was like, ‘I don’t like green.’ He was like, ‘F*** green. Reminds me of some Christmas s***. No one’s trying to wear some Christmas shoes.'”
Just Jordan being as blunt as ever. Sneakers are one topic he always tends to be serious about, and even Stephen A. Smith knows better than to run his mouth too much when it comes to them.
“I let him know this is what I like,” Smith told Complex. “This is what I like, and what I didn’t like. And he’d tell me to shut the hell up, and that’d be that. He’s Michael Jordan. He tells me to shut the hell up, I’m gonna shut the hell up.”
It’s as simple as that. Smith and Jordan remain on good terms to this day, but the same cannot be said about another ESPN employee. Kendrick Perkins revealed Jordan stopped sending free sneakers his way after he stated that LeBron James is the GOAT.
