Muhammad Ali’s Fans Fight Over Memorial Service Tickets While His Family Fights Over His Funeral.
By amin | Comments: 0 | June 8, 2016Muhammad Ali’s family are furious over his funeral arrangements as some of the devout Muslim members of his extended family feel that Ali’s wife Lonnie ignored Ali’s religious beliefs. They are angry that he wasn’t buried within 24 hours of his passing and that his funeral is being shared so publicly.
Muhammad Ali’s body arrives at the funeral home.
The funeral arrangements right now are to have a small family funeral tomorrow (June 9) after which Ali’s body will be transported through the streets of Louisville (his hometown) before a private burial at Cave Hill Cemetery. A public interfaith memorial service will be at the KFC Yum! Center and it’s reported that Ali himself planned for his memorial service with the intent of making it open to all.
This is the first time that his extended family are all speaking to each other (supposedly they haven’t been in touch in decades) so there’s a natural mistrust and uncertainty. While the family bickers over the funeral, some other family members like Ali’s daughter Laila and Ali’s son Muhammad Ali Jr have removed themselves from the drama and are more upset over the death of Ali. It’s sad that at a time like this, family members are fighting with each other but is anyone really surprised? When you have someone with so much fame and wealth and then add in the fact that Ali was married several times and has children from various women in the picture…there’s going to be drama. Just wait till we hear which of his family members (especially his children) will be receiving from his estate. I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last bit of drama that the family sees and I’m sure we are going to see strangers appearing out of nowhere to claim their stake in his estate.
Muhammad with daughter Laila
Now in regards to that public memorial, fans started to line up last night to get tickets to attend. When Ali was planning his memorial, he had made sure his family knew the tickets should be free and as per his wishes 15,000 tickets were made available on a first-come, first service basis, with each person being allowed a maximum of four tickets. Tickets were gone in about an hour, leaving thousands left with nothing. However just hours later some of the tickets were being listed online by people hoping to cash in. It’s disgusting that people are trying to make money off a dead man’s memorial but again, I’m not surprised.
Fans lined up for tickets
In fact, I’m hearing that two of Ali’s old passports, which were given to a family friend as a gift, are now up on eBay where each will probably go for at least $25,000. We all know the battle over his fortune and the battle to make money off his death will continue even after he is laid to rest.
Muhammad Ali and Bill Clinton