August 30: 12:28 am: Apparently Ron Artest is doing Dancing with the Stars.
He had gone on twitter and on Los Angeles radio to say he was not going to do the show (just keep reading below and you will see our “he’s not going to do it” post based on what he said). But that was just Artest-style misdirection.
He appeared on the announcement show on ABC Monday night and will be ready to go. He walked out and stripped off his shirt. So, is there a bigger sign of being committed?
He has said repeatedly that he can’t dance. I guess we’ll find out very, very soon.
August 29, 9:06 pm: The rumors were out there. The offer was out there.
But Ron Artest is not going to be on Dancing with the Stars. He put it on his twitter account on Monday.
Artest also was on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon and said that he was offered the chance to go on Dancing with the Stars but turned it down.
His reasoning was pretty solid (as reported by the Los Angeles Daily News):
Artest also wants to play for the Cheshire Jets in England, but that seems unlikely as insurance issues have gotten in the way. Artest also said he wanted to appear in some sitcoms as a guest but the timing didn’t work out.
Just a lot of things not working out for Artest this summer.
But his name change to Metta World Peace is, everything is just taking a little longer than expected.