Great moments in Rodman-Korea relations
by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports
Exactly 41 years ago, Richard Nixon was in China, wrapping up his historic eight-day visit to the Asian country.
Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea is reminiscent of Nixon’s travels, only with more lip rings and basketball; less historic importance and one cultural gaffe that insulted the singer of 2012′s greatest novelty hit.
Upon arriving in Pyongyang for his HBO documentary basketball diplomacy visit, Rodman sent a flurry of excited tweets, sort of like when I land in Charlotte and see the Bojangles at the airport. One of them mentioned the stars he might see in celebrity-mad North Korea. (TMZ is HUGE there, I hear.)
Except Psy, the singer of Gangnam Style, is from South Korea, not North Korea. Without having been to that part of the world, I can only speculate as to which side would be more insulted by that characterization*, but I assume it’s sort of like calling a Hatfield a McCoy, or vice-versa.
* Well, definitely South Koreans, because North Koreans don’t have Twitter and, thus, will never know about it.
Psy responded a few hours later with the clarification.
Here’s a tip, Dennis: Don’t ask Kim Jong Un about Psy. And if you do meet him, bring back a picture of you dunking on him while wearing a wedding dress, or this trip never happened.
… [For more on Great moments in Dennis Rodman-Korea relations, click here.]
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