Dennis Rodman could play 'role' at historic Trump-KJU summit - report
Dennis Rodman is an oddball by any measure, and nothing exemplifies that more than his friendship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
When the former NBA star visited Pyongyang in 2013 for a basketball exhibition, he and his traveling companions were the first Americans to meet Kim, according to The New York Times.
It turns out the North Korean leader enjoys basketball almost as much as he enjoys imprisoning, killing and starving his people.
Rodman and Kim sat together for a game and were shown smiling and laughing. Afterward, the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year proclaimed Kim a “friend for life.”
“The Worm” has made four more visits to North Korea since then, sometimes bearing luxury gifts for his pal. Rodman also tried to justify Kim’s jailing of an American missionary (he later apologized for his remarks, saying he “had been drinking”).
The 6-foot-7 defender and the 5-foot-7 dictator have formed a true bromance.
Now they might be reuniting for Kim’s biggest moment on the world stage: the dictator’s summit next week with President Donald Trump.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Rodman will be in Singapore for the June 12 sitdown, according to a source — and might even “play some sort of role” in the negotiations.
“A lot of times in situations that involve complex diplomacy, countries like to identify ambassadors of goodwill, and whether you agree with it or not, Dennis Rodman fits the bill,” the source told the Post.
It would make sense for him to be there given that he claims some of the credit for bringing Trump and Kim together.
Rodman, who was a contestant on Trump’s reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice,” told TMZ Sports in April that Kim had a change of heart about the president and the American people after he brought the North Korean leader some of Trump’s books, including the best-selling “The Art of the Deal,” during a visit last year.
“I think [Kim] didn’t realize who Donald Trump was at that time, I guess, until he started to read the book and started to get to understand him,” Rodman said. “Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are pretty much the same. …
“I don’t want to take all the credit. I don’t want to sit there and say, ‘I did this, I did that.’ No, that’s not my intention. My intention was to go over and be a sports ambassador to North Korea so people understand how the people are in North Korea. I think that has resonated to this whole point now.”
Rodman’s representative, Darren Prince, told the Post that the former NBA star is willing to go to Singapore to help out but hasn’t finalized the trip.
“He’s talked about it, but no final trip or plans have been made,” Prince said.
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