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27th Jul 2016

This newspaper chose the worst possible image for a Michael Jordan story

What a mistake to make

Carl Anka

Michael Jordan is one of the greatest sports people of all time.

A six time NBA Champion and multiple MVP, he’s arguably the greatest basketball player to ever lived, he appeared in one of the greatest sports films ever in Space Jam, and earned a gazillion in merchandise sales thanks to his legendary Jordan footwear series.

Space-Jam

Basically, he’s kind of a big deal.

A notoriously apolitical sportsperson, this week saw Michael Jordan make headlines for his donating money to help relations between the African American and police communities in the United States.

Pledging $1 million to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and another $1 million to an organisation devoted to community-police relations, Jordan said he could “no longer stay silent” on the fraught tensions in American at the moment.

It is an admirable decision, one that has been hailed as much needed from fellow basketball player Carmelo Anthony as news of it travelled around the world.

Including Malawi, where they used the one photo of Michael Jordan he’d rather forget.

Yes, a newspaper in Malawi used the now world famous “Crying Jordan” meme to illustrate the Jordan’s charitable efforts to allay racial tension.

For the uninitiated, the Crying Jordan meme sprung from a photograph of Michael Jordan during his Hall of Fame speech in 2009, and soon became internet shorthand for someone experiencing pain or anguish.

It go so big earlier this year it even got turned into a Snapchat filter.

Thank you Michael; for you basketball, your donation, and your gift to all of memekind.

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