ABC’s “This Week” scored a surprise interview with former NBA star Dennis Rodman and Shane Smith, the co-founder of VICE. Rodman just returned from North Korea, where he watched the Harlem Globetrotters play basketball, and partied with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Rodman and the VICE crew were the first Americans to meet with the North Korean leader since he assumed power. He is known to be a big basketball fan.
“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Rodman told George Stephanopoulos. “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.”
Rodman called Kim Jong Un ‘my friend,” drawing pushback from Stephanopoulos, and ended the interview by saying “don’t hate me.”
Rodman’s trip was documented by VICE for its upcoming HBO newsmagzine. Video of his “This Week” appearance is here.