The Beatles met Muhammad Ali in February 1964, and although they posed together for iconic photos, the Beatles weren't necessarily in awe of the boxer. In fact, it's possible that John Lennon didn't really like him at all.
Photographer Harry Benson, who took the band to meet up with the boxer — who was still named Cassius Clay — in Miami, told Page Six that John complained about the photos and proceeded to not speak to the photographer for months. "Come on, Beatles, let’s go make some money," Muhammad reportedly said when he met the Beatles, reported Billboard.
Muhammad didn't actually know who the Beatles were at the time, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, but he still agreed to pose for the photos, pretending to punch the band members.
Some members of the band weren't necessarily pleased with the photos or with Muhammad Ali.
Harry told the Page Six the reason: Muhammad made the Beatles look stupid.
"Afterward, John said to me, ‘He made us look really f—king stupid, and it’s your fault, Benson,” the photographer told Page Six.
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The photographer also told the publication that John Lennon wasn't the only member of the Beatles who had an issue with the photo op.
Harry explained to Page Six that Muhammad "dwarfed" the Beatles — and some of them were more bothered by it than others, it seems.
"They didn’t like it — Lennon and Paul McCartney in particular," Harry told the outlet.
George Harrison seemed to have more positive feelings about it, although he called it "a big publicity thing." In the Beatles Anthology documentary, George shared his feelings about the meeting with Muhammad.
"It was all part of being a Beatle, really; just getting lugged around and thrust into rooms full of press men taking pictures and asking questions. Muhammad Ali was quite cute," George said.
Though Paul McCartney reportedly did not love the initial meeting with Muhammad Ali, he spoke positively of the boxer after his death in 2016.
“I loved that man. He was great from the first day we met him in Miami, and on the numerous occasions when I ran into him over the years," Paul wrote at the time.
"Besides being the greatest boxer, he was a beautiful, gentle man with a great sense of humor," he continued.
