Dennis Rodman seems to be enjoying his trip to North Korea, where he is helping Kim Jong Un celebrate his birthday.
On Wednesday the embattled NBA star sang a rather tone-deaf rendition of “Happy Birthday” to his “friend,” which he topped off with a bow before taking part in a game between a team of former NBA stars that he’d assembled and a home team, Talking Points Memo reports.
The match was a friendly one by all accounts, with the two teams playing against each other only for the first half before mixing together for the rest of the game.
After the game, Rodman told Sky News, "I think this is a very historical day today for everyone in the world to see that we can co-exist with each other."
The basketball player has gotten his share of flak for his unusual friendship with the totalitarian, who is apparently a fan. This is not Rodman’s first visit with Kim. Last year in September he was even invited to a private island with Kim off North Korea’s coast to spend some booze-filled nights, the Washington Post notes.
Tuesday morning, feathers were further ruffled when he and his team were interviewed by CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
Cuomo asked Rodman if he would talk to his friend about possibly freeing Kenneth Bae, the American citizen who has been imprisoned in North Korea for about a year. Rodman lost his temper, shouting at the anchor, “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think!”
Read more at Talking Points Memo and the Washington Post.