NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has made quite a career for himself after finishing the NBA. The gregarious, sometimes affable Barkley played 16 seasons before retiring and taking jobs with TNT and CBS Sports working NBA games in-studio. He set numerous records, and while he is just one of nine NBA MVPs never to win a title, he did win Olympic Gold at the 1992 and 1996 games, playing on the “Dream Team.” Now, however, he’s a commentator and known for his sometimes divisive takes, such as the one he just made about black Trump supporters.
Barkley occasionally espouses viewpoints that more closely align with the right, like this take on cancel culture, “I don’t like using the term cancel culture. Because I don’t want anybody canceled. But you should be called to the carpet if you said something wrong.”
Continuing, he said, “I don’t believe somebody should lose their job or things like that. But you should be called out if you said something stupid. Hey, I’ve been called out many times, I have no problem with that.” While that is the correct opinion and one that most conservatives agree with, it still isn’t widely reflected in the media or by the woke mob.
Barkley doesn’t regularly dabble in politics, and based on his most recent remarks, perhaps shouldn’t. During his weekly sit-down with Gayle King, Charles made some remarks that may land him in a mess. King broached the subject of some comments former President Trump made in Columbia, South Carolina, where he was in town for a black-tie event with black conservatives.
When speaking about the left’s constant barrage of indictments, Trump said: “You know who embraced more than anybody else? The Black population,” Trump told the crowd. “It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mugshot – you know they do shirts.”
Apparently, that was a road too far for Sir Charles, who said to King: “First of all, I’m just gonna say this, if I see a Black person walking around with a Trump mugshot, I’m gonna punch him in the face.” Perhaps sensing she was unleashing the Kraken, King quickly jumped in, saying, “You don’t mean that.” Never one to back down, Barkley said, “Oh, I mean that sincerely!”
King suggested Barkley could possibly get arrested for his actions, causing the 61-year-old Hall of Famer to double down, saying, “I’m gonna bail myself out and go celebrate. First of all, if I was at that [conference], I would’ve got up and walked out,” Barkley continued. “That was an insult to all Black people. To compare Black history, where we’ve been discriminated against, to his plight.”
Watch Barkley here:
Barkely’s comments outraged many black conservatives. One, Zeek Arkham, posted a picture of him in a Trump mugshot shirt and said, “Anyone seen Charles Barkley? I heard he was looking for me. I grew up in the “you hit me, I’m gonna hit you back” era.”
Similarly, Congressman and combat veteran Wesley Hunt said, “Charles Barkley fell into the media’s trap by taking a 2 hour speech from President Trump out of context. One thing I can guarantee is when you see Wesley Hunt sporting “The Mugshot” Sir Charles won’t be punching this Combat Vet in the face.”
Feature image screenshot from embedded video
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