Just in case people believe your nonsense headline; He interviewed the boxing icon four times during his career, and described him as "the most extraordinary man I ever met, without a single shred of a doubt".
@orangesurfboard2238 - what is refreshing about Parkinson is he didn't jump on the bandwagon with Ali he wasn't afraid to ask important questions or critique 'the Greatest'
@@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1 Well said, and I might add that the same could be said about every interview with all guests who appeared on his show, for that matter - never shirked the awkward question.
Talk about him when he was alive, very disrespectful. You made money from the interviews then criticise the hand that fed you. Disappointed in you Michael
@mmlcarpetcleaning2272 - So you expect him to blindly praise Ali? Why shouldn't he give his honest perspective? If it was anyone else you wouldn't care. The flaw in your argument is you think Ali is above reproach. I have news for you. Ali wasn't perfect. He was a segregationist among other things.
Not at all . Parkinson wrote he didnt like Ali and if you actually listen to this video the first minute its clear Parkinson didnt like him and disrespected him. Parkinson was a proud man and didnt like Ali outwitting him
The title is clickbait so well done TM 😅 I have to take exception to Parky here when he says Ali wasn't educated well he was a black man born in America during the pre civil rights era I would think it was very common to be uneducated and black, but boy did he show how intelligent he was, graduated from the uni of life with top honours mate, and did it occur to parky that maybe Ali deliberately failed the army test considering he didn't want to serve?? I think Parky had a bit of brain fart there but I do agree that Ali became a much nicer person once he left NOI and joined the universal religion of Islam and understood that being Muslim is about loving your fellow man whatever the skin colour.
Muhammad Ali was brought up in middle class family- much more comfortable than the likes of Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, etc, and would have received a better education than them. Ali was a genius with words but might not have been 'school smart', like a lot of intelligent people.
He loved all colors? Dont be silly hes 1 of the only black celebrities to openly talk about his hate for the white man? He should know more than anyone else people now arent to blame for 400 year old slavery, islam took African slaves more than any white did in history
Parkinson is 100% right when he says the people who were around Ali have a lot to answer for. I “met” him - and his family/entourage-towards the end of his life, in London, at a private event for the American Olympic team shortly before the 2012 Olympics started. It was clear he shouldn’t have even been there- he should have been resting and enjoying his final days. Instead, he was carted around in a chair, unable to speak or interact with anyone. The memory still haunts me.
Scrolling the comments here is sadly predictable: 'Ali was perfect. How dare Parky say that after he died etc' SPARE ME A few things to point out. Yes, the title is somewhat clickbait insofar as it doesn't tell the whole story - Parkinson also called Ali one of the most extraordinary people he met. But it is a matter of record that he didn't like him at first MORE IMPORTANTLY This blind unthinking adulation of Ali is pathetic FACTS - Ali was a segregationist whose views on 'separating the races' wasn't much different from the KKK. - Ali publicly opposed miscegenation at a time when mixed-race couples faced very real discrimination. - Ali was a member of the Nation of Islam, a highly polarising group, very much on the margins of mainstream black America. - Ali treated Joe Frazier shamefully, calling him a stooge of the white establishment, when actually Frazier came from a more hardscrabble background - Like all black Americans Ali likely did face discrimination but his so-called 'slave name' Cassius Clay was given by his black parents! In honour of a famous 19th Century Abolitionist! Ali was not above embellishing details of his life. - Ali was arrogant. He often shouted over others in interviews and popularized trash-talking in the sport These are empirical FACTS but try telling that to Ali's many cult followers and they pounce on you. He was a great athlete for sure and in life he done a lot of praiseworthy charity work. But his racial politics were toxic. I am pleased MICHAEL PARKINSON did not jump on the bandwagon. Parkinson asked important questions and rightly so. And for that he gets nothing but spite from Ali fans who think MA is above reproach. NO HUMAN BEING IS ABOVE REPROACH! RIP Parky.
@thelaw6267 - How did he 'lose the argument' ? Ali was a segregationist who publicly condemned mixed-race couples at a time when they faced real discrimination Ali's 'people should stick with their own' mantra was disgusting and actually very polarising at the time Of course he gets BLIND PRAISE now by people who cannot think objectively
Brother Ali himself changed his own view by leaving the Nation of Islam and becoming Sunni Muslim. Parkinson is entirely right that it wasn't his own viewpoint even at he time he said it.
Michael Parkinson R.I.P . This was his big blooper. He knew that Mohammed had these difficulties and yet he chose to highlight them. That was the problem and really Parkinson should have owned his bad judgement.
When he interviewed Ulrika Johnson during the time of her affairs it was like watching a worried father talking to his daughter. Ulrika looked so vulnerable and he was so caring if she had cried there and then you knew he would’ve put his arm around her. He wasn’t an interviewer to the stars, he was a friend and they like us, will miss him.
@ab6304 - And why should it matter if he didn't? Ali is not the god a lot of people make him out to be He was arrogant and spoke over people rather than having a conversation with them
So you didn’t like him because he was a combat sport athlete? That’s like not locking and NFL line backer because he hits the ball carrier or opposing quarterback to hard or too violently despite it being his job.
Because Muhammad couldn’t be put down by you or anyone else didn’t say it when he was alive don’t say it now he is dead being as you didn’t like him why interview him 3xs
@patriciadouglas6281 - Another person who thinks Ali should be blindly praised. You expect Parkinson to act like a fanboy? To ask him only questions he wanted asked? Ali was arrogant and not the god he is made out to be by people like you.
Parkinson should be ashamed of himself. He spoke nothing but derisory nonsense about Ali, and said a few things he would never have said when he was alive and certainly never gave said to his face.
Racist, segregationist, draft Dodger. There, how's that? No one need ever feel ashamed for speaking the truth. Ali said far more racist things than Donald Trump and yet everyone kisses his feet.
this man, whoever he was, probably was suffering from Parkinsons disease and was contagious too. gave ali some lol but poor form to say Ali wasn't intelligent.
M P def got his dates wrong too, saying first time he intv him was in 2001. I think he must have taken a few punches over the years to make glaring mistakes like that.
Meg Ryan didn’t want to buy into the misogynist interviews that female actors were and still expected to perform at. She said ‘ I love the job’ but not the trappings…fair comment. Parkey could have respected that view. He did some great work on that interview he failed. Check out her interview with Ellen. It’s lovely.
He's full of hot air in this inteview isn't he. Listing off a hundred reasons why Meg Ryan was 'off'. How about the fact that Parkinson went out of his was to make that interview awkward and painful
Part of being a Hollywood actor is to go on TV to help publicize their latest movie. Meg Ryan had this obligation to be there and be as entertaining as she could. She took the money and failed the obligation on the most important interview show in one of Hollywood's largest markets.
Ali loved himself and his people. You didn’t like that. Sad that you don’t get it. As soon as a black man doesn’t kiss white feet, he’s racist. GTFOH with that horse crap.
Nah... Ali is the greatest athlete of all time. Parkinson was just another interviewer, a damn good one, but no one defined Ali but Ali. He transcended media and boxing. He was and is a cultural phenomenon that only perhaps Michael Jordan could complete with (with regards to sports of course).
