According to a bogus news source, the former NBA star said of Black people, “You will stand in line for my shows but you won’t stand up for yourself.”

On 25 July 2016, the web site TMZ Hip Hoppublished an article that played on the previous reluctance of former NBA superstar Michael Jordan to speak out about social and political issues, reporting that Jordan had said he wasn’t going to sell any more shoes “until black people unite”:

“YOU WILL STAND IN LINE FOR MY SHOES BUT WON’T STAND UP FOR YOURSELF”

Said Former NBA Star Michael J Jordan after he finally broke his silence about the recent killings of black men. As a proud American, a father who lost his own dad in a senseless act of violence, and a black man, I have been deeply troubled by the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement and angered by the cowardly and hateful targeting and killing of police officers.

This was merely another fabrication from TMZ Hip Hop, a phony news website unrelated to the TMZ website that features celebrity rumors. TMZ Hip Hop does not have a disclaimer stating that their content is fictitious, but a cursory examination of their past articles indicates that they virtually solely feature false narratives. Apart from the news that was mentioned above, TMZ Hip Hop has also disseminated false information claiming that Jordan had bought the Chicago Bulls basketball franchise (which he had not), that he had launched a shoe supporting Black Lives Matter (which he had not), and that he was dead (which he was not).

The NBA star did make a comment on July 25, 2016, regarding gun-related violence by and towards police, even if he refrained from saying that he would stop selling sneakers until all Black people unite. Jordan also gave $1 million to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and another $1 million to the Institute for Community-Police Relations of the Internal Association of Chiefs of Police.