For years afterwards, Frazier retained his bitterness towards Ali and suggested that Ali's battle with Parkinson's syndrome was a form of divine retribution for his earlier behavior. In 2001, Ali apologized to Frazier via a "New York Times" article: "In a way, Joe's right. I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologize for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight." Frazier reportedly "embraced it" but later retorted that Ali apologized only to a newspaper, not to him. He said, "I'm still waiting him to say it to me." Ali responded, "If you see Frazier, you tell him he's still a gorilla." Ali also said in an interview, "I wasn't going to get on my knees and crawl and beg him to forgive me."