Watch Dennis Rodman's Bizarre, Screaming Meltdown on CNN
[There was a video here]
While in North Korea to play basketball for Kim Jong Un's birthday, Dennis Rodman took some time out his schedule to (drunkenly?) scream and rant at CNN's Chris Cuomo. It's... something.
Cuomo set Rodman off by asking about Kenneth Bae—the American imprisoned in North Korea on vague charges—and whether Rodman would use his close relationship with Kim to push for Bae's release.
A partial transcript:
"The one thing about politics, Kenneth Bae did one thing. If you understand — if you understand what Kenneth Bae did," Rodman said. "Do you understand what he did? In this country?"
"What did he do?" Cuomo said. "you tell me."
"You tell me," Rodman said. "You tell me. Why is he held captive?"
Then Rodman lost his mind.
He screamed about sacrifice. He accused Cuomo of not having anything at stake. He said he didn't give a "rat's ass" what the CNN host thought, all while pointing his cigar at the camera. Eventually, he settled down and let the much calmer Charles Smith explain the player's "non-political" stance to Cuomo, but not before yelling for a solid two minutes or so.
Elsewhere in the interview, Rodman described Kim as his friend. "I love my friend," he said. "[Kim] is my friend."
Speaking of friends, here's Rodman toasting Jang Song-thaek—Kim's recently executed uncle —during his first trip to North Korea last year.
Look who Dennis Rodman toasted on his first trip to North Korea: pic.twitter.com/ZmApshBvWB
— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) January 6, 2014