Michael Strahan hit back at the critics who questioned why the “Good Morning America” co-host and former Giants star did not ask ex-Titans running back Chris Johnson about the link between Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and football during an interview he conducted with Johnson late last month.
Following the interview on ABC’s morning show, several people were quick to wonder why Strahan didn’t ask Johnson, who was publicly revealing he was diagnosed with ALS, about the correlation between the disease and playing football. Appearing on the “Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday, the host, who was one of those people, brought up the issue.
“I actually thought about that, because I saw everybody [saying] ‘you should have asked this, you should have asked that.’ Well you should have got the interview, how about that,” Strahan said, chuckling after a brief pause.
Strahan, who began full-time on GMA in 2016, went on to explain that he was there to tell the story of Johnson’s ALS diagnosis in the way Johnson wanted.
“That was Chris’ moment for Chris to share the story which Chris wanted to share,” he said. “And when I got the call that Chris wanted to share that he had ALS, that was the story. It wasn’t for me to try and grandstand. Which I hate when people do this. As an interviewer, our job is to deliver information. I’m not trying to get a bigger name for myself by putting somebody else in an uncomfortable position.
“I was there as a service to Chris for what Chris wanted people to know about his life and where he was now. I was not there to make a story about myself or get a big headline. That’s what it wasn’t about.”
The roughly seven-minute-long segment primarily focused on the rapid pace at which the disease came on for Johnson, who played 10 years in the NFL that included one season with the Jets in 2014.
Strahan capped the segment with a message from Johnson to those who may have been recently diagnosed with ALS to not lose hope.
Research has drawn a connection between ALS and playing football, with a study led by researchers from Harvard University and Boston University’s CTE Center showing a strong correlation between the two.
GMA
“Ultimately, this study provides additional evidence suggesting that NFL athletes are at increased risk of ALS and suggests that this risk may increase with more years of NFL exposure,” the authors wrote in a summary of their findings.
That is what had people such as Dan Le Batard, former Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman and others questioning why Strahan didn’t ask about the potential link.
“The headlines were about Chris, is where they needed to be,” Strahan continued. “I did ask Chris about football and how the NFL has been supportive and all those things. He has twin boys who play football right now, so there are so many things that people don’t know. But a few were critical of, but overall I’m proud of what we did there at ABC and bringing that story. And I’m very proud and very happy that Chris trusted us to tell it, because that was Chris’ story to tell.
“The headline was about Chris Johnson, not about Michael Strahan. I don’t make any of those things about myself and that was a disappointing thing for a few people who are critical of that. But if you don’t have critics, that means you’re not doing a good job too.”
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