Footballing legend Pele has caused controversy by
mistakenly referring to United States basketball legend Michael
Jordan as "Michael Jackson", the late pop artist.
Pele is part of Rio de Janeiro’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic
Games, and was making a speech in Rio yesterday ahead of the
International Olympic Committee session in Copenhagen that will
choose the winner on Friday.
The other bids come from Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago, with President
Obama travelling to Denmark personally in order to help the
American city.
When sponsoring Rio, Pele attempted to win points over Chicago by
referring to the fact that Jordan, who is the city’s most
recognised person, was absent from their delegation.
However, in an embarrassing error, Pele referred to Jordan as
“Michael Jackson”, the legendary pop singer who recently passed
away.
The room then burst into laughter, but Pele dug an even deeper hole
for himself as he attempted to get over the gaffe by joking that
they were “two Michaels”.
Pele is known affectionately in some circles as ‘The Jinx’ due to
his numerous wrong predictions and bizarre quotes over the years,
and there are some who fear that this blunder may now cost Rio de
Janeiro their chance of hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.