Did Michael Jordan really pay off his high school janitor’s mortgage? Viral rumors debunked

For some time now, a story about Michael Jordan paying off the mortgage of a janitor at his high school has been circulating on the internet. This janitor was said to have believed in the young MJ and encouraged him to continue pursuing hoops even after he failed to land a spot on the varsity basketball team.

To date, this story continues to make the rounds on social media. On Monday, the X account Fullcourtpass tweeted that Jordan supposedly provided "steady retirement income" to the janitor and covered other expenses like medical bills and home renovations.

Earlier this year, however, a fact-checking website attempted to debunk this story. According to Caroline Wazer of Snopes.com, no other reports corroborate the anecdotes of Jordan extending financial support to a janitor at his old school.

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"A Google search for the terms 'Michael Jordan,' 'high school' and 'janitor' found no legitimate media coverage of any such act of generosity on Jordan's part," Wazer wrote.

Wazer also pointed out that there are "numerous near identical stories about other celebrities," thus casting doubt on the legitimacy of the Jordan narrative. For instance, a YouTube video published on February 27 claims that Shaquille O'Neal displayed generosity towards a janitor at his former high school.

To cap off her debunking effort, Wazer stated that different versions of the Jordan story may have been AI-generated. According to Wazer, some online articles covering the story have been flagged by sites like GPTZero and Copyleaks.

Though entities like the NBA and the Make-A-Wish Foundation have reported philanthropic gestures from Jordan in the past, it appears that this viral story about his interaction with a janitor is questionable at best.

"LeBron is a bad boy, but he's not Michael Jordan": Magic Johnson picks MJ in fierce GOAT debate

Even as stories about Jordan's personal life circulate, his name continues to be brought up in the never-ending GOAT debate.

Speaking at the recent "Invest Fest" conference, LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson made a case for Jordan over LeBron James as basketball's GOAT. Johnson, who played against MJ in the 1991 NBA Finals, said that "nobody alive" will ever be able to pull off feats like Jordan's famous hand-switching moment in that series.

"That boy is too bad, I'm telling you right now," Johnson said of Jordan. "LeBron is a bad boy too, but he's not Michael."

Though Johnson played a huge role in bringing over James to his beloved Lakers franchise, the five-time NBA champion still went with his good friend and fellow 1992 Dream Team stalwart.

Edited by Simoun Victor Redoblado