*Muhammad Ali, who began planning his funeral long before his death on June 3, insisted that tickets for his June 10 memorial service be free of charge. But some folks who received free passes decided they’d rather make a pretty penny and scalp the tickets instead.
“I’m personally disgusted and amazed that someone would try to profit off of Muhammad Ali’s memorial service,” Ali family spokesman Bob Gunnell told the AP.
“I hope that those buying tickets or trying to buy tickets would stop those efforts by not purchasing,” he added. “Muhammad Ali wanted this to be a free event, an event that was open to all.”
Free tickets for the memorial at the 15,000-seat KFC Yum! Center in Louisville were handed out at the venue earlier this week. According to the AP, the line stretched around the arena, and all 15,000Â tickets were gone in the span of one hour and 10 minutes.
According to The AP, some ticket holders immediately looked to cash in by selling them online. One of the posters offering to sell tickets, when reached by phone, said a friend of his sold tickets to the memorial service. When asked for how much, he hung up.
Others posted online pleas to buy tickets. One wrote that he and his mother were driving in from Chicago for the service and were willing to pay $50 for two tickets. Another wrote that he was flying in from California for the service and offered to pay someone $50 to stand in line for him for tickets to both the memorial service and the Jenazah, a traditional Muslim funeral being held Thursday at Freedom Hall.
But others unable to wait in line refused to pay for tickets to the event Ali insisted should be free.
“The Greatest wanted his funeral to be accessible to everyone instead of the money hungry spectacle that will be taking place on Friday,” one wrote in requesting someone give him tickets for free. “RIP Muhammad Ali, the Greatest of all time.”
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