NFL legend and "Good Morning America" host Michael Strahan is taking serious heat this week for his recent interview with former Tennessee Titans star Chris Johnson.
Johnson revealed on "Good Morning America" that he has been diagnosed with ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The three-time Pro Bowler who once rushed for more than 2,000 yards in a single season said the disease has progressed much faster than he could've imagined.
"I want people to understand just how quickly ALS can attack your body," Johnson said. "Just over a year ago, I was picking up my 7-year-old daughter so she’d make a wish with her birthday cake. Today, I couldn’t do that."
Former Sports Illustrated writer and author Jeff Pearlman called out Strahan for failing to ask Johnson about the link between ALS and football.
"We know by now through studies that there is a correlation between playing football and ALS. A much higher percentage of people who play football, specifically in the NFL, wind up with ALS than the general population. It is a known thing. The number of times Michael Strahan, a former football player, asks Chris Johnson about this? Zero. The number of times Good Morning America brings this up? Zero. It is so (expletive) irresponsible and grotesque," Pearlman said.
"Chris Johnson is dying and he showed up on Good Morning America to tell his story, and Michael Strahan, one of the great cowards on TV in my opinion, sits there and pretends, oh, this is heartbreaking, it’s so sad, I can’t believe this is happening to you, and doesn’t have the courage and the decency and the wherewithal to mention the ties between football and ALS. And that’s because he’s getting paid a (expletive) of money not to. It’s (expletive) disgusting."
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Strahan continues to face criticism.
Former ESPN personality Dan Le Batard agreed with Pearlman's stance on this situation. In fact, he believes Strahan had a responsibility to viewers at home to ask an NFL-related question during his interview with Johnson.
"Michael Strahan has a responsibility in that instance to ask some sort of football-related question, and he did not do it," Le Batard said. "It’s just too uncomfortable. You just can’t enjoy that thing the way you do … when these guys are limping through their retirement homes to an early death."
Le Batard continued, "The only reason Chris Johnson is on there is not because he has the disease, it’s because he played football. The reason Chris Johnson is being interviewed is because this is a former athlete of some name. They’re not interviewing random people with ALS, they’re interviewing this person. And so to neglect that question is an omission that I don’t know why the omission is there."
As of this time, Strahan hasn't responded to Le Batard and Pearlman's criticism. Maybe that'll change in the coming days.
