Today is the big day for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, as his best friend Dennis Rodman and 10 other American basketball players already hosted an exhibition game for his 31st birthday. For the game, the American players first took on a team of North Korean players, as the home team led the Yankee imperialist scum at the half, 47-39. But in a show of sportsmanship and humanity, the teams swapped players for the second half, as Kimmy and the Worm watched in harmony from their BFF seats high above the little people.
Rodman even kicked off the birthday festivities for his bestie by singing “Happy Birthday” to the dictator, and he shared some very kind words from his heart, undoubtedly speaking for everyone in North Korea.
“A lot of people have expressed different views about me and your leader, your marshal, and I take that as a compliment,” Rodman told the crowd. “Yes, he is a great leader, he provides for his people here in this country and thank God the people here love the marshal.” (Via NPR)
Surely, this plug for such an otherwise-loathed political leader won’t go over too well, because North Korea is accused of being the world’s biggest human rights violators, with countless people currently serving life sentences in horrifying labor camps for reasons unknown, and the country has repeatedly threatened to attack South Korea and the United States with nuclear missiles. Oh, and we can’t forget that the country has reportedly rocketed to the top of the world’s meth sales, thanks to Kimmy’s government’s forced fundraisers.
It certainly couldn’t have gone over well with the other Americans that traveled with Rodman, because they’re already openly admitting regret for making the trip.
“What we are doing is positive, but it is getting dwarfed by the other circumstances around it,” [Charles] Smith told The Associated Press. “Apparently our message is not being conveyed properly due to the circumstances that are much bigger than us, and I think that has to do with politics and government.”
“The way some of the statements and things that Dennis has said has tainted our efforts,” Smith said. “Dennis is a great guy, but how he articulates what goes on — he gets emotional and he says things that he’ll apologize for later.” (Via The AP)
I get the feeling that Rodman and the people who organized this trip sold the other players, including Smith, Vin Baker, Kenny Anderson and Cliff Robinson, with the idea that this was indeed a goodwill trip that was focusing on promoting peace between the people of two countries, much in the same way that blue jeans, Pepsi and Billy Joel helped Americans and Russians fall in love in the 80s and 90s.
But still, how do a dozen 40-something guys agree to something and not one of them stops and says, “Hey, is the government cool with this?” or “You know, people might think this is kind of f*cked up.” Hopefully when they return, they’ll be a little more open and courteous with the American media than Rodman has been.