Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s criticism of Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X in a 1965 interview was largely misrepresented, according to a new biography.

This was announced by Jonathan Egge, the author of the future book. “King: Life”studying the archives of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Ige found that in a 1965 interview with Playboy magazine, King allegedly accused Malcolm of “fiery demagogic rhetoric”—words that contributed to the deterioration of relations between the two leaders of the black movement.

“I think this is a historic revelation,” Eige told the Washington Post. “We believed for decades, for generations, that King was a harsh critic of Malcolm X, but that wasn’t true.”

The interview between journalist Alex Haley and King took place at the height of the civil rights movement. The interview has been reprinted countless times, helping to show the fragile relationship between the two leaders.

The author found the wrong passage – and more – on 84 typewritten pages of what appears to be an unedited transcript of a complete interview between the two men.

On page 60, Hayley asks, “What is this? “Dr. King, what would you like to comment on the black Muslim Malcolm X?”.

King replies: “I met with Malcolm X, but circumstances did not allow me to speak with him for more than a minute. I completely disagree with many of his political and philosophical views, as I understand them. I don’t want it to be seen that I have the only truth, the only way. It may indeed contain part of the answer. But I know that I often felt that I wished he would talk less about violence because I don’t believe that violence can solve our problem.”.

King’s words in the published interview looked different.

“The fiery, demagogic rhetoric in the ghetto, urging blacks to arm themselves and prepare for violence, as he did, can produce nothing but grief,” it says, among other things.

The phrase “I feel that Malcolm has done himself and our people a great disservice” is nowhere to be found in the 84-page transcript, according to the Post.

Source: Washington Post.