A photo of Tennessee Rep. Martin DanielNASHVILLE - State Rep. Martin Daniel stirred controversy on the Twitter circuit over the weekend with criticism of the late Muhammad Ali, using the boxing champion's birth name, Cassius Clay.
"Cassius Clay was a skilled, great boxer, but failure to enlist in the US military when the call was made is (a) black cloud on his character," the Knoxville Republican said in an initial tweet on Saturday. He subsequently reported Twitter had labeled the posting "sensitive" and he had to re-tweet it.
In subsequent tweets, Daniel defended his comments. One response asked, "What kind of coward waits until someone's dead to criticize their character?" Others noted that while Daniel criticized Ali for refusing to be drafted, he supports Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has been labeled a "draft dodger" by some critics.
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