The fifth episode of The Last Dance, the popular ESPN docu-series examining the impact of Michael Jordan and the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls, touches on one of the more controversial aspects of Jordan’s legendary career: his lack of political engagement during his playing days. Back in 1990 Jordan, who grew up in North Carolina and starred for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, refused to publicly endorse Harvey Gantt, the African-American former Democratic mayor of Charlotte, in his racially contentious Senate race versus Republican Jesse Helms. Helms’ career was marked by repeated charges that he was racist. In the 1980s, he opposed making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday.
“Republicans buy sneakers, too,” Jordan famously said by way of explanation. His Nike Air Jordan shoes, in fact, made him millions. Gantt lost the election.
Thirty years later, Gantt tells TIME he doesn’t begrudge Jordan’s decision not to publicly support him—and isn’t sure how much it would have mattered, anyway.
“Somebody told me he said something about Republicans buying Nike shoes,” Gantt, now 77, say…