Bird says, ‘He’ll have my first name.’ Magic says, ‘He’ll have my last name'” – The plotline of the ceased Converse commercial featuring Bird, Magic and Larry Johnson
Converse stopped the commercial after Magic Johnson announced he was HIV-positive.
In 1991, Converse signed the electrifying NBA rookie Larry Johnson and came up with a commercial for the ages featuring him, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. In a cruel twist of fate, Laker legend was diagnosed with HIV, and Converse ultimately decided to stop working on the commercial.
Fortunately for us, some NBA journalists were able to get a scoop of what the commercial’s plotline was. According to Slam, Larry Legend and Magic were supposed to be “mad scientists in a laboratory” who would create LJ as “the ultimate basketball player” inspired by their skills.
“Bird would say, ‘He’ll have my passing ability,’ and so forth. But what should they call this new creature? Bird says, ‘He’ll have my first name.’ And Magic says, ‘He’ll have my last name.’ And at that point, LJ would rise up from the table. Def. They shot the commercial. But when Magic announced he had HIV, Converse scrapped the ad,” the article said.
Converse resorted to Grandmama
True to form, Converse eventually moved on from the said commercial and worked on a new marketing idea for Johnson. The company knew the next plotline should also be creative and appealing to the audience.
Johnson also once talked about his ceased Converse commercial with Bird and Magic. However, “Grandmama” said it wasn’t Magic’s HIV that halted it. Instead, Johnson was later told that Converse was prompted not to push through with it as one of the NBA legends did not want to do it. To this day, Johnson still doesn’t know whether it was Bird or Magic.
“They say, man, we got a commercial in mind. You, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. I said, ‘Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, come on, let’s do it.’ One of them didn’t want to do the commercial, cause I asked some years later what happened to that commercial. They said they wouldn’t tell me which one of the guys didn’t want to do it,” Johnson once revealed.
In retrospect, fans were blown away by LJ’s Grandmama persona, and Converse found massive success with its commercial series. But on the flip side, it’s still difficult not to think about how epic a sneaker commercial starring Bird, Magic, and Larry Johnson would have been.
