John Legend and Chrissy Teigen condemn Piers Morgan over Muhammad Ali and Donald Trump comments
Morgan prompted controversy for claiming the late boxing legend was more racist than Trump
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John Legend and Chrissy Teigen have rebuked Piers Morgan for claiming that Muhammad Ali said “far more inflammatory/racist things” than Donald Trump.
Morgan stirred controversy for defending the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tributes to Ali who died late on Friday night.
Morgan, who is the US editor-at-large for MailOnline and a presenter on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, said Mr Trump’s comments about Muslims after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks were less racist than Ali’s own views about white people.
“Muhammad Ali said far more inflammatory/racist things about white people than Donald Trump ever has about Muslims #fact,” Morgan wrote on Twitter on Sunday morning.
Morgan’s comments provoked immediate anger on social media and have now been rebuked by Legend and his wife Tiegen.
“You could test us by announcing your retirement,” Legend wrote to Morgan on Twitter.
Tiegen joined in and said, “From what? trolling isn't a job (I've tried)”.
Piers hit back at Tiegen and said, “Maybe I should take up a proper job, like modelling?” Tiegen retaliated by saying modelling kept her "not-racist" so perhaps Morgan should give it a try.
“It keeps me nice and not-racist so sure, give it a go,“ she said, to which Morgan responded by saying he was not racist.
Yesterday, Morgan claimed the late boxing legend “wanted a ban on mixed-race marriage” and called him an “imperfect genius in and out of the ring”.
“Why would stating that Muhammad Ali made a lot of inflammatory, race-charged statements in his life be remotely controversial? He did,” Morgan wrote on Twitter.
A representative for Morgan did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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