Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King held a torch for his parents against the recent comments made about Mrs. King by Jonathan Majors.
Earlier this week, Majors was a guest on ABC News, where he had an exclusive chat with the program less than a month after being convicted on harassment and assault charges against his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. During the interview, Majors referred to Mrs. King twice: first in having wanted Jabbari to behave similarly to the author and civil rights activist, and later saying that his new girlfriend, actress Meagan Good, has supported him "like a Coretta."
Just days after the King's youngest daughter, Bernice King, took offense to Majors' comments, which he defended, MLK III agreed with his sister during a new interview with CNN. The exclusive is also tied to MLK Day, which will be observed on Jan. 15, what would've been Dr. King's 95th birthday.
Around the 4:25 mark of the video above, MLK III was asked by CNN anchor Victor Blackwell about the comparisons Majors has made between Mrs. King and Good. Standing beside his sister's thoughts, MLK III said, “So I think it's really – that she certainly was not that, but she was extraordinarily supportive every day of their lives together, and she was far more than just a prop."
He added, "I think she was, sometimes you have to be because you have to support your spouse, which is beyond – above and beyond what she did. So I don't see – I think in the context of what was said, that plus the personification of all of the many things that mom did during her life with dad, and after dad's life, the King holiday wouldn't exist, we wouldn't be talking about Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday if it had not been for the work that my mom did.”
MLK III also showed his disgust for MLK Day holiday party fliers that depict the deceased civil rights leader and humanitarian as a stereotype. “I think it's certainly – a gross misinterpretation of who dad was. Dad was elegant, dad was not arrogant, but certainly always elegant," he said.
"I think that people are failing miserably if they are trying to portray him in the way that those images are. That's just not him. And, again, finally, we're better than that. I mean, we shouldn't go into the gutter. And so, you know, frankly, I just don't even acknowledge it exists.”
