Dennis Rodman denies plans to meet with Isis leaders after satirical report goes viral

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Facebook’s move to tag articles from parody news websites with the warning ‘satire’ is clearly much-needed after basketball legend Dennis Rodman had to deny claims that he was heading to the Middle East to talk some sense into the Islamic State (Isis).

A report on satirical news outlet National Report, which styles itself like the Huffington Post, jokingly quoted Rodman as saying that if he “could just talk with the leaders of Isis they would see the errors of their ways”.

The spoof article claimed that Mr Rodman told all to reporters earlier this week as he waited at Los Angeles airport for his flight to the beleaguered region.

“There’s a lot of things they are doing that just ain’t cool. I’ll tell them what I think and maybe they’ll change their methods,” Rodman most definitely did not say.

He didn’t add: “I think my basketball skills will help a lot too, boxing people out of the paint at times when it counts, like the 4th quarter. I was thinking about getting a sweet ISIS tattoo to let them know that I mean business.”

The tongue-in-cheek report was shared over 70,000 on Facebook alone and left many people congratulating him on his “bravery”.

“He’s actually the only one with enough balls to really do this!” a commenter said, while others were left bemused and mocked him for the “death wish”.

However, Rodman’s representative told TMZ Sports yesterday that of course, he isn’t on his way to Iraq or Syria because the article is nonsense. He is, in fact, in Hong Kong for meetings.

National Report appears to be playing on Rodman’s association with the pariah state of North Korea and its dictator Kim Jong-un after the pair struck up one of the most unlikely of friendships ever imagined.

Rodman's representatives have been contacted by The Independent.