Dennis Rodman’s recent trip to North Korea did not sit well with a human rights group, which wants the former NBA star kicked out of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The group Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation began a petition on change.org to have Rodman expelled from the basketball shrine, CNN reported. It comes on the heels of the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who arrived in the United States last week in a coma after being detained for 17 months in North Korea. Warmbier died Monday.
“Otto Warmbier was murdered by the North Korean regime,” Marion Smith, director of the human rights group, told CNN.
Rodman was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011. He has visited North Korea several times and has praised dictator Kim Jong-un, whom he called "a friend for life."
Smith accused Rodman of "coddling" Kim.
"Removing Rodman from the Hall of Fame will send a message that all Americans are united against this regime," Smith told CNN.
