President Obama's Space Jam joke even has Michael Jordan laughing

When you’re Michael Jordan and the greatest of all time (or the GOAT) in basketball, it’s not often you become the butt of the jokes.

Unless of course, the guy cracking the gags at your expense is the commander in-chief.

Which is just what happened to Jordan at the award ceremony for the Medal of Freedom, the highest honour for US civilians, with Barack Obama even managing to get a laugh out of the Chicago Bulls great with his wisecrack.

“Today, we celebrate extraordinary Americans who have lifted our spirits, strengthened our union, pushed us towards progress,” Obama opened the ceremony with.

“I always love doing this event, but this is a particularly impressive class. We’ve got innovators and artists … public servants, rabble rousers, athletes, renowned character actors, like the guy from Space Jam,” the president and self-confessed Bulls fanatic quipped.

The cameras then zoomed in on a chuckling Jordan as he sat amongst his fellow recipients, which included fellow NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks.