Poor Dennis Rodman.
The Hall of Famer just wants to help thaw the United States' relationship with archenemy North Korea, yet in trying to be proactive he can't help but trip over his own shoelaces. Following Rodman's trips to North Korea earlier this year, he was widely scolded by the press and politicians. He even got in on the Rodman-bashing in this comical commercial.
And now the five-time NBA champion has earned the unfortunate "honor" of being named the Least Influential Person of 2013 by GQ. He narrowly beat out Justin Bieber, Anthony Wiener and Paula Deen for the top spot.
Here's what GQ's Drew Magary had to say about Rodman's much-maligned travels:
"He was the first prominent American celebrity invited inside the nation-sized prison that is North Korea, and he did literally the least interesting thing possible with it. Sure, Kim Jong-un is a brutal dictator who starves and kills his own people. But he was pretty chill when we hung out! Dennis Rodman is a Q-list celebrity willing to commit borderline treason just to hang out with a dictator who himself aspires to be a Q-list celebrity. It's all hilarious, until you remember there are millions of people who can't leave this Kingdom of the Absurd without taking a bullet to the head."
Ouch. You've got to wonder if/how this will affect Rodman's plans to go back to North Korea in December. He's also said he'd like to work with the North Korean Olympic basketball team. Maybe he should shelve those plans for the time being.
Rodman wasn't the only athlete to Make GQ's list. He was followed by Aaron Hernandez at No. 7, Tim Tebow at No. 12, San Francisco 49ers defensive back Chris Culliver at No. 13 and Alex Rodriguez at No. 15. Lennay Kekua, Manti Te'o's fake ex-girlfriend, slipped in at No. 21.
