Pimp Sues Nike for $100 Million after Beating a Man with His Air Jordans
We all know that Michael Jordan's line of shoes, the Air Jordans, have been the objects around which violence occurs, what with all brawls breaking out and gunshots being fired every time there's a new release. (Really, Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing is even more influential than we all thought, depicting two men getting involved in a heated confrontation over, basically, Air Jordans).
But did you know that the Air Jordan itself is a deadly weapon? That's what a pimp (and a team of prosecutors) from Oregon is saying. Seriously:
A 26-year-old Portland pimp has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Nike, claiming the shoe manufacturer is partially responsible for a brutal beating that helped net him a 100-year prison sentence.
Sirgiorgiro Clardy claims Nike should have placed a label in his Jordan shoes warning consumers that they could be used as a dangerous weapon. He was wearing a pair when he repeatedly stomped the face of a john who was trying to leave a Portland hotel without paying Clardy's prostitute in June 2012
Jurors early in 2013 found him guilty of second-degree assault for using his Jordans -- a dangerous weapon -- to beat the john's face to a pulp. The man required stitches and plastic surgery on his nose.
So, yeah. When sportswriters and commentators used to always call Michael Jordan "a killer on the court", maybe they were talking about the shoes after all.
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