![North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series.](https://pyxis.nohib.com/v1/imgs/c25/ceb/5a460404679b2c4af684702ee9e98137c7-28-kim-jong-un-dennis-rodman.rsquare.w330.jpg)
Apparently Vice’s headline-grabbing journey to North Korea with former Bulls headline-grabber Dennis Rodman was initially designed as a journey with Rodman’s more dignified former teammate Michael Jordan. But Vice founder Shane Smith told the New York Times only that “Jordan wasn’t interested.” Smith considered Rodman an improvement to the stunt, though, telling the Times, “It fit right into our wheelhouse, because it’s absurd.” It sure was, but with Rodman planning a return visit, it’s also now just a thing that happens.