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Tenn. lawmaker sparks controversy with Ali tweet

Posted at 4:51 PM, Jun 05, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-05 16:51:47-04

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.