ESPN’s The Last Dance has highlighted the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls in a ten-episode series. Before the series was released, Bulls’ Legend Michael Jordan feared that people would not like how he was going to be perceived in the series, and last night’s episodes may be a reason for that belief.
For the majority of his career, Jordan tried to not let his political beliefs be evident, unlike athletes such as Muhamed Ali who was compared to Jordan in the first of two episodes that aired last night. This political views were evident with the 1990 Senate election in Jordan’s home state of North Carolina.
In that election, Harvey Gantt, who was both a Democrat and African-American, challenged incumbent Republican Jesse Helms, who had a reputation of being racist. Jordan’s mother asked her son to do a PSA supporting Gantt. Jordan subsequently responded by saying, “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
This comment, as expected, received some backlash as many people felt that Jordan was strictly worrying about his bottom line and felt that he was being selfish.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!
A week of sports news in your in-box.
We find the sports news you need to know, so you don't have to.
Former President Barack Obama voiced his feelings about the comment. “I’ll be honest, when it was reported that Michael said, ‘Republicans buy sneakers, too’ – for somebody who was at that time preparing for a career in civil rights law and knowing what Jesse Helms stood for, you would’ve wanted to see Michael push harder on that,” Obama said.
Jordan doubled down on this comment saying that it was made off the cuff, on the team bus with teammates Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant present. “The way I go about my life is I set examples. If it inspires you? Great, I will continue to do that,” Jordan said. “If it doesn’t? Then maybe I’m not the person you should be following.”
Jordan’s “Republicans buy sneakers too” quote is one of the most famous of his career, and he has tried his hardest to repair the damage done by that quote. He donated money to Gantt’s campaign in 1990 and has become more of a political advocate as he has gotten older, donating money to the NAACP amid the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016, and donating money to various political campaigns, while inadvertently pathing the way for the athletes of today to have a voice on political issues.
SLIDESHOW: 50 GREAT SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019
With their big three finally back in action Wednesday, the Philadelphia 76ers suffered another setback…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tny--EWynOQ Nike paid tribute to Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal with a 10-meter-tall animated display…
https://youtu.be/dtJoJz9hC48 Tennis legend Rafael Nadal bid a heartfelt goodbye to his devoted Spanish fans as he brought…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DQ9Rxhnuer4 U.S. Olympic fencer Eli Dershwitz shed light on the critical skills necessary in fencing…
Two offensive linemen for the Chicago Bears returned to practice, a massive step in the…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/s2g9t_33Myw President-elect Donald Trump received a warm welcome from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Jon…