Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan has defended his decision not to question former NFL running back Chris Johnson about the link between football and ALS during a July 28 interview.
Johnson disclosed his ALS diagnosis on the show, detailing his rapid physical decline over the past year while using an assistive speech device.
“It's continued to progress much faster than I ever imagined. I want people to understand just how quickly ALS can attack your body,” Johnson said.
He noted that he had no family history of the neurological condition before receiving his diagnosis.
“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,” Johnson said.
Johnson emphasized that his primary goal was to raise awareness and help others facing similar struggles.
“There's no history of ALS in my family.
My doctors believe my case is what's called sporadic ALS, which is actually how the vast majority of ALS cases happen,” he said.
He expressed hope that sharing his story would spur medical research.
“If it helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research, or gives another family hope, then it's worth it,” Johnson said.
After the segment, media observers criticized the interview for skipping health concerns tied to brain trauma.
Former Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman publicly called out Strahan.
“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,” Pearlman said.
“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 irresponsible and grotesque,” he added.
Pearlman argued that financial ties to the league influenced the scope of the questions.
“Michael Strahan, who's paid by the NFL, doesn't bring it up. He knows the tie between football and ALS.
He has seen fellow players suffer from ALS because they played football.
And you are so soulless, and you are so corporately owned that you will not bring it up,” Pearlman said.
He further alleged a lack of journalistic resolve during the television appearance.
“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, 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 money not to. It's disgusting,” Pearlman said.
Strahan Responds to Criticism
Addressing the backlash on Tuesday's edition of The Dan Patrick Show, Strahan argued that the interview belonged entirely to Johnson's narrative.
“Well, I had that — I actually thought about that, because I saw what everyone said, ‘Well you should have asked this, you should have asked that.’
Well, you should have got the interview. How about that?
That’s one thing,” Strahan said.
He maintained that his role as an interviewer was to serve the guest's stated preferences rather than pursue sensational headlines.
“Two, that was Chris’s moment for Chris to share the story which Chris wanted to share.
And when I got the call that Chris wanted to share that he has ALS, that was the story.
It wasn’t for me to try to grandstand, which — I hate when people do this, Dan,” Strahan said.
“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 understand and know about his life and where he was now,” he added.
Strahan concluded by noting that Johnson personally trusted the network to broadcast his diagnosis without distraction.
“I did ask Chris about football, 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 very proud of what we did there at ABC in bringing that story,” Strahan said.
“And I’m very proud and very happy that Chris trusted us to tell it. Because that was Chris’s story to tell.
The headline’s about Chris Johnson, not about Michael Strahan. I don’t make any of these things about myself.
And that was the disappointing thing for a few people who were critical of that.
But if you don’t have critics that means you’re not doing a good job, too,” he said.
Research from a 2021 study involving over 19,000 professional football players showed that former NFL players suffer from ALS at four times the rate of the general population, according to reports by Pro Football Talk.
