Michael Jordan Was Asked For Autograph In Airport Bathroom While Playing For Bulls: ‘You Gotta Be Kidding Me’

According to Will Perdue, NBA legend Michael Jordan was asked for an autograph in the bathroom after the Chicago Bulls landed at an airport. 

A fan slipped a piece of paper and a pen under the bathroom stall and asked Jordan for his signature and Perdue and his teammates couldn’t believe it.

“One of the funniest things was we’re flying somewhere, get to wherever we’re going, we get off the plane,” Perdue said in 2021 on the Bulls Talk Podcast. “As all men know, you get off the plane, first thing you do is you just beeline it to the bathroom. We all come running in and everybody is standing at the urinals and Michael walks in and (sighs). So then he’s gotta go into a stall, right. Closes the door.

“So obviously, this guy (fan) thinks that well, he’s going to be in there for a while. Takes a piece of paper and a pen and sticks it up underneath the door and goes, ‘Hey man, you’re gonna be in there for a while. Do you mind signing this?’ And of course, now we’re all sitting there with our heads turned. We’re like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’”

Jordan was arguably the most popular celebrity in the world during the ’90s. The shooting guard was so recognizable that he couldn’t fill his car with gas, go to movies with his family or head to the mall without getting bombarded by fans.

The beginning of Episode 6 of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” docuseries showed an old Jordan commercial where the NBA icon spoke about his life not being as fun as everybody thought it was.

If you value your privacy, being Jordan would have been a nightmare.

“It’s funny, a lot of people say they’d like to be Michael Jordan for a day or for a week, but let them try to be Michael Jordan for a year, see if they like it,” Jordan said in the commercial. “I don’t think you can see the true Michael Jordan for just a day. I don’t think they quite understand it’s no fun.”

The only time Jordan experienced peace and quiet was when he was at home with his family or in his hotel room on the road. Other than those two venues, Jordan was under pressure to be on all the time with people and Bulls senior director of public and media relations, Tim Hallam, saw it first-hand in the ’90s.

Almost everyone wanted to be like Jordan, which is why Gatorade came out with the “Be like Mike” commercial. However, Hallam was one of the select few people who knew being Jordan was an “impossible task.”

“I think what people don’t realize is that from the moment Michael Jordan leaves his hotel room, the spotlight is on him,” Hallam said in The Last Dance. “Everybody in the world wanted to either see him, talk to him. They all wanted a piece of him in some way or another. He was under pressure to be on all the time with people. I wouldn’t want to be like Mike. It’s an impossible task.”

Jordan has career averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.8 blocks with the Bulls and Wizards. He won five MVPs, one Rookie of the Year Award, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, six championships, six Finals MVPs, 10 scoring titles and three steals titles. 

Jordan is first in NBA history in points per game, fourth in steals, fifth in field goals and second in player efficiency rating. He holds the NBA record for most points (63) scored in a playoff game.