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Tenn. lawmaker sparks controversy with Ali tweet

<p>Early Sunday,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/739375193647353857" target="_blank">Piers Morgan tweeted</a>&nbsp;that Muhammad Ali made more controversial comments than Donald Trump.&nbsp;</p><p>Ali died over the weekend, and, unsurprisingly, fans were quick to come to the former heavyweight boxing champion&#39;s defense.</p><p>Morgan first questioned why there was so much controversy over his tweet. He later sort of apologized, writing: &quot;I&#39;m sorry for &#39;saying inflammatory things for attention&#39;. That&#39;s the last thing Muhammad Ali would have condoned.&quot;</p><p>Ali was well-known for his social activism but did say some controversial things inside and outside the ring.</p><p>He once called his opponent Joe Frazier an &quot;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/nov/08/muhammad-ali-joe-frazier" target="_blank">Uncle Tom</a>&quot; and said he worked &quot;for the enemy.&quot; He also said Frazier was &quot;so ugly, blind men go the other way.&quot;</p><p>Of course, Frazier was brash, too, saying, &quot;If we were twins in the belly of our mama, I&#39;d reach over and strangle him.&quot;</p><p>Ali also talked very candidly about race.</p><p>During a BBC interview, Ali said, &quot;And I&#39;m sure no intelligent white person watching this show ... want black boys and black girls marrying their white sons and daughters.&quot;</p><p>And in 1967, when Ali famously refused to serve in the Vietnam War, he said: &quot;Man, I ain&#39;t got no quarrel with those Viet Cong. No Viet Cong ever called me n-----.&quot;</p><p>As for Morgan, he&#39;s kind of known for stirring up controversy.</p><p>In April, he wrote an opinion piece of Beyonce&#39;s latest album, Lemonade, in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3557867/PIERS-MORGAN-Jay-Z-s-not-one-needs-nervous-Beyonce-born-black-woman-political-mission.html#article-3557867" target="_blank">the Daily Mail</a>&nbsp;calling her a &quot;militant activist&quot; and saying she exploited mothers whose sons were shot by police.&nbsp;</p><p><i>This video includes clips from&nbsp;</i><i><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36450998" target="_blank">BBC</a></i><i>&nbsp;and images from Getty Images,&nbsp;</i><i><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Joe_Frazier#/media/File:Joe_Frazier_in_Amsterdam.jpg" target="_blank">Dutch National Archives</a></i><i>,&nbsp;</i><i><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AliFrazierFightOfTheCentury.jpg" target="_blank">Lorenzo9378 / CC BY SA 4.0</a></i><i>&nbsp;and&nbsp;</i><i><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Muhammad_Ali_visits_Washington.jpg" target="_blank">Tyne &amp; Wear Archives &amp; Museums</a></i><i>.&nbsp;</i></p>
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Fans mourned the passing of Muhammad Ali this weekend, after “The Greatest” passed away on Friday at the age of 74. Millions took to social media over the weekend to share memories of Ali and share the impact he had on their lives — but not everyone was mourning the boxing icon.

In a series of since-deleted tweets, Martin Daniel, a Tennessee state representative from Knoxville, called out Ali for failing to enlist in the Army after being drafted in 1966. He also referred to Ali by his birth name Cassius Clay, a name that Ali described as his “slave name.”

 

 

Later, Daniel called out Ali on his “love for the Nation of Islam,” an organization that the boxer denounced in 1975.

 

 

Ali famously refused to enlist in the Army after being drafted, giving up the heavyweight title and three years of his career to oppose what he felt was an unjust war. A five-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971.

Talk show host Piers Morgan also created controversy with a tweet that compared the boxer to GOP front runner Donald Trump.

 

 

He later explained his thoughts about Ali in a Daily Mail column headlined “Ali taught us to dream, to dare and to fight for what we believe in. That's why he's The Greatest.”

Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.

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