Michael Jordan has announced to donate all his earnings from The Last Dance to charitable work.
The story was first reported by Forbes who estimated that the basketball star would be making roughly $4 million from the docuseries and all of it will be donated to “charitable causes.”
A representative for Jordan told PEOPLE: “Michael has already committed to donating to Friends of the Children, a national non-profit that provides vulnerable children, ages 4-6, with professional mentors who stay with them from kindergarten through graduation, and we are vetting additional Coronavirus-related causes.”
According to CNN, the first two parts of The Last Dance, which debuted this Sunday, got 6 million viewers – the highest number of viewers for any documentary series ever made by ESPN.
Before the series aired on ESPN, 57-year-old Jordan warned viewers that the series, consisting of 10 parts, will portray a side of his personality that might be too intense for some of the fans.
“When people see this footage, I’m not sure they’re going to be able to understand why I was so intense, why I did the things I did, why I acted the way I acted and why I said the things I said,” Jordan told The Athletic in an interview.
Jordan, rightfully branded the best basketball player of all times, was known for being too intense on the court.
He often trash-talked his opponents and at occasions even his own teammates. However, he played the key role in the Bull’s championships back in the 90’s.
The Last Dance documentary gives a detailed insight into the 1997-1998 performance of the Chicago Bulls when the team secured a place in the NBA season as defending champions after continuous wins in 1996 and 1997.
Even though the team was highly successful, this was the last time we saw the team’s main players Scottie Pippen, Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, and coach Phil Jackson together.
“Winning has a price,” Jordan opines in the documentary, as reported by CBS Sports.
“And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn’t want to be challenged.
“And I earned that right because my teammates who came after me didn’t endure all the things that I endured.”
However, the docuseries is not entirely focused on Jordan alone.
While most of the viewers expected the documentary series to portray the life of Jordan, some were excited about the title of the ex-president Barack Obama listed in the series, as can be seen from the social media chatter from the time before the series aired on ESPN.
The 58-year-old ex-president appeared in the docuseries, speaking of Jordan’s success in the game and his popularity in the 90s. The description under his name read: “Former Chicago resident.”
Grabbing the opportunity, a Twitter user quipped: “Donald Trump has so royally f— the reputation of being called President of the United States that Barack Obama was like ‘nah, I’m just a former Chicago resident.’”
Another person wrote: “Calling Obama a ‘former Chicago resident’ is quite the understatement.”
“My new goal in life is to meet the person who decided Barack Obama would be ‘Former Chicago Resident,’” tweeted a third one.
Back in November 2016, Jordan was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Obama who referred to the retired basketball player as “more than just the best player on the two greatest teams of all time.”
“There is a reason you call someone ‘the Michael Jordan of’ — Michael Jordan of neurosurgery, or the Michael Jordan of rabbis, or the Michael Jordan of outrigger canoeing — and they know what you’re talking about,” said the president at the time.
“Because Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of greatness.”
He added: “He is the definition of somebody so good at what they do that everybody recognizes them. That’s pretty rare.”
Two of the 10 episodes of The Last Dance have already aired and two will air every Sunday at 9 pm. The finale will be broadcasted on 17th May.
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