Melchor and Jordan both grew up in New Jersey, and Melchor's father was Jordan's high school vice principal
Credit: Adam Melchor/Instagram; Etienne Laurent/The Academy
NEED TO KNOW
- Musician Adam Melchor shared a sweet story of bonding with Michael B. Jordan during the summer of 2001, when his father was Jordan’s high school vice principal
- Jordan was a student at Newark Arts High School in Newark, N.J., at the time
- Jordan took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Sinners at the 2026 Oscars
Musician Adam Melchor shared a sweet childhood memory of his friendship with Michael B. Jordan after Jordan's 2026 Academy Awards win for Best Actor for his dual roles in Sinners.
The "Real Estate" singer began his video shared on social media on Monday, March 16, by explaining that his father previously worked as the vice principal of Newark Arts High School in Newark, N.J., where Jordan, 39, was a student during the summer of 2001.
Melchor recalled that his father would work "12 months out of the year" despite the usual "normal teachers [who] work 10 months out of the year."
"So, during the summer, I would go with him to work," Melchor explained of his childhood summers spent at the magnet school. He added that he would often speak to the children and teachers, including "one kid" who he "got really close with."
He "sort of took me under his wing," Melchor said. "He would play basketball with me, and we would walk around, and it really meant a lot to me."
"So, at the end of the summer, I was super upset I was never going to see him again," Melchor recalled, before adding that his father told him they could go see Jordan's upcoming film in the movie theater that September.
"So, we went to go see it, and that movie wound up being Hardball," Melchor said of Jordan's second-ever onscreen performance. "And the kid that I wound up hanging out with was Michael B. Jordan. So, you know, I was asking my dad a million questions about him afterwards."
Melchor then said that he assumed at the time that Jordan must have "so many friends at school."
However, his dad shared that Jordan actually had "a little bit of a hard time."
"'Some of the kids give him a hard time, because they're pretty jealous,' " Melchor said his dad told him.
The musician then referenced the viral moment in 2023 when Jordan spotted a former classmate who used to tease him while on the red carpet at a Creed III screening.
Credit: Adam Melchor/Instagram
"Oh yeah, I was the corny kid, right?" Jordan said as The Morning Hustle host Lore'l approached him for an interview, stating they go "all the way back to Chad Science [Academy] in Newark."
Jordan's comment referenced a 2021 episode of The Undressing Room podcast in which Lore'l and podcast hosts Eva Marcille and Dominique da Diva spoke about his then relationship with model Lori Harvey, calling him a "nice, corny guy."
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"So A., congratulations to Michael B. Jordan, B., be careful who you make fun of in high school, and C. If you’re ever around Michael and you’re seeing this, I’m so down to play basketball again," Melchor concluded his video.
PEOPLE has reached out to a rep for Jordan.
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