Michael Jordan's Poisoned Pizza Conspiracy Theory

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Michael Jordan's Poisoned Pizza Conspiracy Theory refers to an implied allegation that Michael Jordan ate a tampered pizza before an NBA Finals game in 1997. The game he played, sometimes referred to as the "Flu Game," has grown in infamy among NBA fans since 1997. In May 2020, Jordan and members of his entourage discuss the circumstances surrounding the pizza in the documentary series The Last Dance. Shortly after the episode aired, a man who claimed to be the delivery driver of the pizza said that he personally made the pizza and that it was not tampered with.

Origin

On February 28th, 2012, former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson discussed the 1997 flu game, which took place on June 11th, 1997.^[1] He said:

Harper always said that it was bad pizza. You know, Ronnie Harper always thought it was a bad food type of thing. But, the headaches are associated with altitude.

Precursor

Michael Jordan's "Flu Game" took place on June 11th, 1997. The game grew in fan infamy following reports that Jordan played the game with flu-like symptoms. Jordan's team, the Chicago Bulls, won the game with Jordan scoring 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block (video below).

Spread

On April 17th, 2013, ESPN^[3] reported that Michael Jordan's personal trainer said that Jordan had food poisoning during "The Flu Game" whil apearing on TrueHoopTV He said:

Yes, 100 percent poisoned for ('The Flu Game').

Everyone called it a 'Flu Game,' but we sat there and we were in the room, we were in Park City, Utah, up in a hotel. Room service stopped at like 9 o'clock. And he got hungry, and we really couldn't find any other place to eat so we ordered … I said, 'Hey, the only thing I could find is a pizza place.' He said, 'All right, order pizza.' We had been there for a while, so everybody knows what hotel … I mean Park City (didn't have) many hotels back then. Everybody kind of knew where we were staying.

"So we order a pizza, they come to deliver it, five guys come to deliver this pizza. And I'm just … I take the pizza, and I tell them, I said, 'I got a bad feeling about this.' I said, 'I just got a bad feeling about this.' Out of everybody in the room, he was the only one that ate. Nobody else … then 2 o'clock in the morning, I get a call to my room. I come to the room, he's curled up, he's curled up in the fetal position. We're looking at him. We're finding the team physician at that time. And immediately I said, 'It's food poisoning.' Guaranteed. Not the flu."

The Last Dance

On May 17th, 2020, ESPN aired the ninth episode of The Last Dance. In the episode, Jordan, as well as his trainer Tim Grover and his personal assistant George Koehler discuss ordering a late-night pizza before an NBA finals game between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. Grover describes the circumstances of the pizza by claiming that five men delivered the pizza and all attempted to look into the room, where Michael Jordan and the rest of his entourage were staying.^[1]

Jordan claims that he alone ate the pizza and work up at 2:30 am to vomit. He believes it was food poisoning.

Following the videos airing, the "flu game" and the pizza became the topic of many conversations. That night, ESPN published a video interview with the show's director to talk about the scene. The post received more than 44,000 views (shown below).

Others joked about the story. Twitter ^[2] user @ItsDuckinTooYun shared a GIF of a child looking suspicious with the caption "Pizza places in Utah right now #TheLastDance." The post received more than 2,600 likes and 400 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left). Twitter^[6] user @JCMBrave10 posted a screenshot of the "Pepe Silvia" scene from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The post received more than 1,500 likes and 200 retweets in less than one week (shown below, center).

Some mocked Jordan and his entourage for blaming the pizza place. Commentator Andy Levy tweeted,^[7] "love to eat a whole pizza by myself and then when i don't feel well say it was food poisoning #TheLastDance" The post received more than 780 likes and 75 retweets in less than one week (shown below, right).

On May 18th, Craig Fite, who claims to be the deliverer of the pizza, spoke with 1280 the zone's radio show "The Big Show."^[4]^[5] During the interview, he claims that he alone made the pizza, and as a Bulls fan, wanted to make sure that none of the other employees tampered with the delivery (audio below). Fite says:

I said, "Well, I’m delivering it." I remember saying this: "I will make the pizza, because I don’t want any of you doing anything to it." And then I told the driver, you’re going to take me there.

[…]

Did you get it diagnosed? Did you go to the doctor? All this is innuendo on their part. One thing I remind everybody is, he was smoking so many cigars. They had windows open. He didn’t have a shirt on or he was in a tank top. At around 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon in Park City, the sun is gone behind that mountain so it gets colder up there.