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Pele Causes Controversy By Referring To Basketball Legend Michael Jordan As Michael Jackson

‘The Jinx’ has again got into trouble by opening his mouth...

Oct 1, 2009 7:03:12 PM

Pele - MasterCard - football business (AFP)

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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.

Anthony Sormani, Goal.com