“I will not do it unless you include the starting 5 because I didn’t do this by myself”: When Michael Jordan refused to do Disney’s commercial without his Bulls teammates

Michael Jordan refused to do Disney’s commercial for Disneyland without his teammate after winning the NBA Championship. 

In recent days, Michael Jordan’s attitude and love for his teammates has been brought into question by none other than Scottie Pippen, who has used his former teammate’s name a lot for his book’s promotion.

The former Chicago Bulls forward called out MJ for his Netflix documentary series, The Last Dance, saying, “How dare Michael treat us that way after everything we did for him and his precious brand. To make things worse, Michael received $10 million for his role in the doc, while my teammates and I didn’t earn a dime.”

Also read: “Scottie Pippen was elite, but he ain’t no Michael Jordan”: Stephen A. Smith slams Pippen for downplaying MJ’s flu game

This apart from other words said and written by Pippen, would have anyone believe that Jordan was a narcissistic snob who did not care or appreciate his teammates. A recently resurfaced clip from the 1990s suggests otherwise.

“When the team is successful, everybody shines”: Michael Jordan

Speaking after one of his legendary NBA Championships, Jordan recalls how Disney approached him for a commercial for Disneyland, where he was supposed to name-drop them when asked about where he was going.

“I remember when Disney came to and asked, ‘Could you say I’m going to Disneyland, when they ask you what you would do after winning the Championship’. I said ‘I won’t do it unless you include the starting five because I didn’t do this by myself.'”

Also read: “Such nonsense, I’m going to kick your a** Scottie Pippen”: When Michael Jordan was infuriated with his Bulls teammate for missing practice due to his cat’s death

Jordan goes on to explain why he said that, especially considering that he won the NBA MVP in that season, followed by the NBA Finals MVP as well. He was clearly the star of the team.

“I felt compelled to do that because I dont want to overshadow anyone. I love for us to be successful but I believe, and I’ve always believed that when a team is successful, everbody shines. Everybody’s going to blossom from this.”

Jordan, for all his fault, and probably an over-obsessive desire to win, did not ever seem like the player who would not acknowledge the people that helped him become great, and this two-decade-old clip just proves the same.