Marcus Jordan, the son of NBA legend Michael Jordan, said he wasn't bothered by his famous dad telling paparazzi that he disapproved of his romance with “Real Housewives of Miami” star Larsa Pippen.
“At first, he laughed, you know, kinda like how I laugh at a lot of the questions that we go through on this podcast,” Marcus Jordan, 32, told Pippen during the latest episode of the couple’s “Separation Anxiety” podcast.
“He laughed, and then the reporter I guess asked again, and he let out an emphatic ‘no,’ and then shook his head again as he was walking to his car,” he added.
The younger Jordan's comments come more than a week after his retired Chicago Bulls star dad told a photographer in Paris that he did not approve of his son dating the ex-wife of his estranged former teammate Scottie Pippen.
Marcus Jordan told listeners that his dad "texted and called" him to tell him not to take anything he said the wrong way.
"But when the article came out, he texted me again and said he never said 'Hell no,' that’s not what the implications were," said Jordan, later adding, that his dad was in a "playful" mood and had been "joking" when he initially spoke.
"I didn’t put too much weight on it," he said.
Jordan went on to say that he will always date whomever he wants to date — adding that his love life would never affect his relationship with his father.
“I can make my own decisions, he doesn’t need to approve who I date or my personal relationships. He’s gonna love me no matter what,” he explained. “I think that’s what the takeaway was from the conversation, but of course no one sees that, they just see the headlines.”
Though Jordan was relaxed about his dad's remark, Larsa Pippen, 49, revealed that she was "traumatized" by the incident. “You thought it was funny,” she told her beau. “I didn’t think it was funny. There is nothing funny about it."
She added, "I kinda felt like it went everywhere and I was kind of embarrassed.”
The reality star, who divorced Scottie Pippen in 2021 after four kids and more than 20 years of marriage, said she feared Michael Jordan's comment would make people doubt her earlier claims that both her and the younger Jordan's families approved of their union.
“I think people started to think that online they were saying that I was lying — that I lied and said that our parents are fine because I was doing interviews and literally saying both of our families are fine," she said.
Larsa Pippen reiterated during the episode that both her parents and Marcus Jordan's parents wanted them to be happy. But she said she understands why their romance may raises eyebrows.
"It probably is awkward for my ex and your dad because they have their own, like, relationship or whatever it was,” said Pippen.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were one of the NBA’s most exciting duos in the 1990s.
In recent years, the former teammates have become estranged, with Scottie Pippen writing in his 2021 memoir “Unguarded” that he was frustrated with how Michael Jordan was singled out as the star of the Chicago Bulls.
During their podcast episode, Larsa Pippen told Marcus Jordan that the issues between her ex-husband and his dad were not their own.
“I wasn’t a part of that, you weren’t a part of that," she said. "So I feel like for them it probably is weird, it probably is weird for your dad. I can’t be mad. I understand."
TODAY.com reached out to reps for both Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for comment.