Michael Strahan defends Chris Johnson ALS interview after criticism

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 los...