Dennis Rodman broke down in tears on television Tuesday morning in Singapore as President Trump held a historic meeting with Rodman’s friend, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The former NBA star, who has been talking to Kim Jong Un’s administration for the last five years, he said, reminisced about Kim’s offer to hold talks with former president Obama when he was in office.
“And this is a true story and I have my people there who heard the conversation,” Rodman told CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “He said things like, if they can move the ships back from South Korea, I would do what I have to do to listen.”
Obama, however, ignored Rodman, he said.
“And I tried to do that to Obama. And Obama did not even give me the time of day,” the NBA Hall-of-Famer continued, fighting tears. “I asked him. I said I have something to say from North Korea. He brushed me off. And that didn’t deter me. I still kept going back. … I showed my loyalty and my trust to this country.”
Rodman’s dreams of seeing the beginning of peace talks between the U.S. and North Korea were realized this week when Trump held a historic meeting with the North Korean dictator.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration hopes it will be the first stab at reaching a deal that orders the denuclearization of North Korea.
“When I said those damn things, when I went back home, I got so many death threats,” an emotional Rodman remembered. “I got so many death threats. I was sitting there protecting everything.”
He had to “hide out” for 30 days at one point, he said.
“But I kept my head up high, brother,” he told Cuomo. “I knew things were going to change. I knew it. I was the only one. I never had no one to hear me. I never had no one to see me. But I took those bullets, I took all that. Everybody came at me and I am still standing. And today is a great day for everybody.”
Rodman claimed that after he trained North Korean basketball players and made plans for ex-NBA player to come to North Korea, Kim Jong Un said, “Dennis, you know, this is the first time someone ever kept their word to me in this country.”
NOW WATCH: ‘Trump Says U.S. Will End Korean War Games’