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>