Muhammed Ali sets a BBC interviewer straight

[The Hammer]

Muhammed Ali speaks good sense in this 1971 interview with a BBC interviewer:

[Tom Cruise]

I know plenty of happy inter-racial couples so how is he speaking truth?

hell my mum is half Turkish half Scottish, her parents were happily married for over half a century.

Ali is one of my favourite athletes and characters of all time, but unfortunately his views of race were a product of the period he grew up in (civil rights struggle etc) and are now severely outdated.

[THE REED]

I understand what he's saying, but have a different outlook. I see no problem with mingling between races and cultures.

I don't blame him though, that was 40 years ago, a completely different time.

[chav]

He was so incredibly sharp and witty, his tongue knew no bounds and he just captivated and held your attention even on subjects that were close to the line (well for me and many others anyway)

A real shame he is in the state he's in now, but thankfully for video we will always have some of his finest moments on tape for the future

[Tom Cruise]

He was so incredibly sharp and witty, his tongue knew no bounds and he just captivated and held your attention even on subjects that were close to the line (well for me and many others anyway)

A real shame he is in the state he's in now, but thankfully for video we will always have some of his finest moments on tape for the future

agreed. I dont think ive ever seen anyone outside of politics who can dominate a conversation as completely as Ali did. His brain was just on another level of speed to everyone else.

[Larry the boss]

different time different era

[stefjonno1]

I've actually watched that episode a lot, and imo Ali came across as a bit of an idiot.

[hayZ]

I can see what he is saying but he was wrong here but the way he spoke and presented the argument made it very appealing and made you want to agree with him even though if you take a step back you realise he is wrong.

Glad his views changed in 1975.

[Barn]

he's being a ****ing ****** there.

naming different types of birds which are actually different species, black people and white people aren't a different species.

a comparable analogy "grey pigeons don't fly with white pigeons" which would be dumb.

so to say ali "speaks sense" is just stupid, kind of like the time he said "white people are the devil".

[devildg]

i would not call him an intellectual at all but he parroted alot of common societal views on race from the black community, thereby, serving as an effective unofficial ambassador for black people. his stance on the Vietnam War was nothing unique but he was effective at communicating. a lot of charismatic people are like this including MLK Jr., Ronald Reagan, etc, etc

Had Ali decided to be a politician, he would have been pretty damn good at that too.