Laila Ali Suffers Backlash After Saying She Doesn’t OPENLY Support ‘Black Lives Matter’

Her father, Muhammad Ali, may have been celebrated for his tireless activism efforts against racial inequality, but Laila Ali prefers to take the silent approach – or at least that’s what was implied during her recent sit down with ‘Huffington Post’ Live.

On the promotional train to increase awareness about her forthcoming stint on the Arnold Schwarzenegger-hosted ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ (January 2017), the boxing champ was hit with questions about footballer Colin Kaepernick and her thoughts on the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

“Yes, black lives matter. Yes, white lives matter, asian lives matter. All lives matter,” she said. “And that’s kind of what my focus is. But it’s hard because, you know, you’ve got sponsors and you’ve got this and you’ve got that. And you don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. And you’re trying to be politically correct, but at the same time trying to uplift your people.” – Ali, 2016

The response above set off a chain reaction of criticism. See some of it below:

“I would think about what can I do as a family to take responsibility for our actions,” she said. “So, I think as black people, we have to do the things that we can do to make a change within our own community within ourselves first and then let the trickle effect happen.” – Laila Ali, 2016