Several people have described the scene at Ali’s training facility before the first Frazier fight.
One day he called Frazier a “gorilla” and chanted it over and over: “Gorilla, gorilla, gorilla.” and eventually all the (all-white) writers began to chant with him: “GORILLA, GORILLA, GORILLA.”
Charming. Imagine any white person in America doing this without the special “dispensation” that Ali gave them.
Frazier also had a hand in helping Ali get his boxing license back after the draft-dodging layoff. Frazier knew a payday when he saw one and may have been a little selfish knowing that he’d never be considered a real champion until he faced Ali. But still it must have gone down hard when Ali started those “gorilla” antics.