During halftime of the Chicago Bulls’ Friday night game against the Golden State Warriors, the Bulls held their inaugural Ring of Honor ceremony to celebrate legends like Michael Jordan for their contributions to the organization. However, the supposedly joyful occasion turned bitter when it was the late Jerry Krause’s turn to be honored.
The mood inside the United Center shifted as the team’s former general manager was met with a cacophony of boos. To make matters worse, he was being represented by his widow, Thelma, who became very emotional at the fans’ reaction.
The incident quickly became viral on social media, as several individuals called out the Bulls fans for their reaction. Fans also quickly pointed to Jordan and Netflix’s docuseries “The Last Dance” as major reasons the late GM drew this reaction.
“OK, I’ll say it – Michael Jordan is an a**hole. Just not a nice person,” a user on X posted before praising LeBron James. “Lebron is the [GOAT]. Great player + great person.”
“MJ pushed a nasty agenda against Krause in that ‘Last Dance’ doc and now his family has to deal with this, what a horrible person,” another fan posted.
“Seeing a lot of ‘The Last Dance rotted…’ tweets. So y’all are finally waking up to that nicely produced propaganda piece,” a post read.
“‘The Last Dance’ really killed everyone’s reputation of the 1990s Bulls aside from Jordan,” one user wrote.
“This is on Michael Jordan. He created this, he wanted this. But, as always, he’s completely perfect and will receive zero criticism.”
Why are Michael Jordan and “The Last Dance” blamed for Jerry Krause being booed?
In 2020, a mini-series consisting of ten episodes that followed the Chicago Bulls 1997-98 title run was released by Netflix. One of the narratives covered by the documentary was the role that then-general manager Jerry Krause played in breaking up the team.
Krause’s depiction in “The Last Dance” paints him as the biggest reason that the Bulls dynasty came to an end and, as such, is viewed by many of the franchise’s fans as a villain. Aside from Krause, however, the documentary also painted other key members of that team in a negative light, such as Jordan’s running mate, Scottie Pippen.
While some people were depicted negatively, many fans noticed that Michael Jordan was portrayed more positively. This led to them calling the docuseries “propaganda” that favored Jordan heavily. Some have even accused Jordan of using the series to remain ahead in the GOAT conversation.