The 36-year-old 'Creed III' star and director comes face-to-face with a former classmate who teased him.
Adonis Johnson is taking on a childhood bully. Michael B. Jordan had an interesting run-in with a former classmate on the red carpet during a screening for his film, Creed III, in Atlanta, Georgia.
The 36-year-old stars as boxer Adonis in the film, which also marks his directorial debut. While doing red carpet press at the event, Jordan was approached by Lore'l, the host of The Morning Hustle Show, who reminded him of their shared history.
"You know we know each other. We go way back all the way to Chad Science [Academy] in Newark," Lore'l told Jordan.
The actor and director gave a tight smile and said, "Oh yeah, corny kid, right?"
Lore'l tried to laugh off the moment saying, "I did not say that! I was misquoted for sure."
"No, I heard it," Jordan claimed.
"No, you did not hear me!" Lore'l replied, adding, "I said we used to make fun of the name, but he is obviously killing things for sure."
The awkward interaction was captured and shared on The Morning Hustle's Instagram account.
Lore'l also shared a video of the rest of her interview with Jordan, in which she declared, "You're not corny anymore!" as a stone-faced Jordan looked back at her while she laughed.
The "corny" comment comes from a 2021 episode of The Undressing Room podcast in which Lore'l and podcast hosts Eva Marcille and Dominique da Diva spoke about Jordan. At the time, Eva called him a "nice, corny guy," adding at the time, "and I don't mean that as a slight."
Lore'l also referenced their history during the episode, sharing that as kids she and her peers used to tease him for his famous moniker.
"We went to Chad Science [Academy] together in Newark, and to be honest with you, we teased him all the damn time because his name was Michael Jordan. Let's start there, and he was no Michael Jordan," she said. "And he also would come to school with a headshot. We lived in Newark. That's the hood. We would make fun of him like, 'What you gonna do with your little stupid headshots!?' And now look at him!"
Jordan isn't letting a childhood bully bring him down. The actor spoke with ET at the Los Angeles premiere of Creed III on Monday, where he opened up about the release of the film coinciding with his eye-catching new Calvin Klein underwear ad.
"This was like, a moment, you know? Just to have everything come together at one time, it feels great," he gushed to ET. "And to be able to share that moment with my other actors, who are having a moment of their own as well, it just feels special. It feels like everything is happening at the right time."
Creed III hits theaters on Friday, March 3.
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