Report: Dennis Rodman made North Korean trip after Michael Jordan declined

Dennis Rodman reportedly made a North Korean trip after Michael Jordan said no. (AP Photo/Jason Mojica)

When Dennis Rodman made his infamous North Korean trip for an HBO show called "Vice," the flamboyant NBA Hall of Famer was not the show's creators their first choice to make the trip, reports the New York Times.

The creators of "Vice" said they would have preferred Charlotte Bobcats owner and former Chicago Bulls teammate Michael Jordan, but he declined. Rodman made the international headlines when he visited North Korea in mid-February.  The “Vice” finale will air on June 14.

“Jordan wasn’t interested,” said Shane Smith, the founder and chief executive of the Vice Media Group, the HBO partner that conceived the North Korea trip and helped persuade the authorities there to permit it. "It fit right into our wheelhouse, because it’s absurd."

More from the New York Times:

At a preview screening of the finale, the creators said they would have preferred to have recruited another former NBA star, Michael Jordan, whose autograph adorns a basketball presented to Kim Jong-il, the father of North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong-un, by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright during her visit to North Korea in 2000 — when relations were comparatively warmer than they are now. Mr. Rodman, who played with Mr. Jordan on the Chicago Bulls but is perhaps known more for his lip jewelry and dyed hair, became the first American to meet with Kim Jong-un, who took over after his father died in 2011.