Michael Jackson’s connections to the NBA might be something understated. He knew everyone and everyone revered him. There is the iconic story of how he called Kobe Bryant to talk about his work ethic. However, very few people know about the gesture he offered for Kobe Bryant’s Wedding.
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Of course, being Kobe’s wedding, you could expect a huge invite and it would have been the talk of the town. So, to that avail, Bryant spoke to everyone he knew. This included Michael Jackson.
When Michael departed in 2009, Kobe was asked his opinion on the King of Pop and he only had good things to say about him. Bryant had just won the Finals MVP and despite his jubilant mood, he took time to remember his friend rather poignantly.
Kobe said, “Beyond the genius of what he was, he was just a genuinely, genuinely nice person. He got me hooked on movies that I would normally never watch. Fred Astaire movies. All the old classics. I would never, never watch those,”. Touching.
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Michael Jackson offered his ranch for Kobe Bryant’s Wedding
During the interview with TIME magazine, we learned that for Kobe Bryant’s Wedding, Michael had given the Lakers superstar a unique offer.
Kobe narrated, “I remember my fiancée and I(me) telling him we were getting married, and him just being really excited and actually just offering up the ranch to have our wedding there, because privacy was going to be an issue. We wanted to get married in a church, so that’s what we wound up doing.”.
Bryant was touched by his gesture. He continued, “But he made the offer. He was just a genuinely nice person who was exceptionally bright, exceptionally bright, and driven and talented. You mix those things together, man, you have Michael Jackson.”
Michael Jackson once also wanted Shaquille O’Neal’s property!
This is the same Michael Jackson who was ready to swoop a house from under Shaquille O’Neal’s nose. When the King of Pop first saw O’Neal’s Orlando mansion, he wanted it. Badly.
The house is huge and sprawls 76,000 sq. ft. Absurd size. That is hardly the size of a house, it is more like a commercial space. Michael Jackson was a polarizing personality.
On one hand, he was ready to offer up his ranch for Kobe’s wedding and on the other, he wanted to buy out Shaq’s house from under him. Weird.
