Michael Jordan got savagely roasted for showing Air Jordan 1s on Letterman show in 1986

Aside from being one of the greatest players ever, Michael Jordan is best known for his line of signature shoes. However, one release did not go as expected.

When his first shoe was getting ready to be released, Michael Jordan did an interview with late night host David Letterman to promote it. At the time, the young guard was a rising star for the Chicago Bulls.

While talking about the shoe Letterman decided to have some fun with Jordan. He called them ugly, but that didn't phase the future six time champion. MJ let the world know that he had nothing to do with the color choice, which eventually led to him getting fined by the NBA.

Jordan explained why the league didn't allow him to wear the shoe during games, to which Letterman got one final joke in about the landscape of the NBA.

"Is this the shoe the NBA wouldn't let you wear?" Letterman said. "Why wouldn't they let you wear it? Because it's ugly."

As everyone knows, the shoe went on to be a hit and was the start of Jordan's empire with Nike.

Why was Michael Jordan fined for wearing his shoe during games?

Even though it came at a steep price, Michael Jordan wore his first signature shoe in countless games for the Chicago Bulls. The NBA came down hard on him as they were in clear violation of the dress code.

At the time, the league rule was that the majority of the shoe had to be white. Since he played for the Bulls, Nike made Jordan's shoe all black and red. When he wore them on the court, the league office had no choice but to fine him $5,000 every time he did it.

Some companies might have conformed and made a new shoe, but that wasn't the case with Nike. They insisted Jordan keep wearing them, and agreed to pay all of his fines.

Once word got around that the shoe was banned, Nike decided to spin things in their favor. They ran an entire ad campaign around the fact that the shoe was "forbidden."

This was one of the many marketing campaigns that led to Jordan's becoming a household name in Pop Culture. To this day, the Jordan division is among Nike's highest sellers. Because of this, MJ has a lifetime deal with the company.