Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is known for his record scoring on the court as well as his bold political stances off the court. Abdul-Jabbar strongly criticized police brutality in 2014, but he has rarely criticizes individual ball players.

During a recent interview with NPR, however, Abdul-Jabbar criticized Michael Jordan for abdicating his social responsibility.

NPR’s Michel Martin asked Abdul-Jabbar if he’d paid a price for speaking out.

“I did,” he said. “But sometimes you can’t pick or choose. When something happens, it doesn’t matter if it’s convenient or not — if it’s time to speak up, you have to speak up. You can’t be afraid.”

Asked about Michael Jordan’s comment “Republicans buy sneakers, too,” Abdul-Jabbar shunned the fear that gets in the way of celebrities taking stands.

“You can’t be afraid of losing shoe sales if you’re worried about your civil and human rights. He took commerce over conscience. It’s unfortunate for him, but he’s gotta live with it.”

Even in UCLA, Abdul-Jabbar recalls being involved in protests, despite calls from others to focus on his NBA chances.

“When Dr. King was assassinated, within a couple of days I was involved at UCLA. We had a demonstration. … People were telling me, ‘Hey, you’re going to get a chance to play in the NBA and make a lot of money, you shouldn’t be out here protesting like this.'”

“To me there was no correlation. Somebody needed to speak out about what had happened.”

Speaking about police brutality in 2014, Abdul-Jabbar pushed back against accusations that Black Lives Matter protesters were anti-police.

“Those who are trying to connect the murders of the officers with the thousands of articulate and peaceful protesters across America are being deliberately misleading in a cynical and selfish effort to turn public sentiment against the protesters,” he explained. “This is the same strategy used when trying to lump in the violence and looting with the legitimate protesters, who have disavowed that behavior. They hope to misdirect public attention and emotion in order to stop the protests and the progressive changes that have already resulted. Shaming and blaming is a lot easier than addressing legitimate claims.”