Charles Barkley’s new show American Race on TNT has been met with mixed reviews as Barkley tries to explore the complicated issues of racism and race relations in the United States. Much of the concern expressed about the show has been directed towards Barkley being the choice to host.
The outspoken NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst is known for bing boisterous and having opinions, but not for being the most tactful or having a deft touch when it comes to discussing sensitive topics (a recent example being Isaiah Thomas playing after the death of his sister). Barkley and the Inside The NBA crew have long been willing to speak on political or societal issues that go beyond basketball, but American Race takes the framework of sports away and asks Barkley to do things like sit down with white nationalist Richard Spencer among other things.
Barkley was a recent guest on “The Seth Davis Podcast” to talk about his show and what people can expect from it. At one point, Davis begins to speak on the complicated relationship sports fans have with sports personalities who choose to use their platform to speak out on things not related to sports, and Barkley quickly took the opportunity to call out “idiots” on social media and explain why he thinks the “stick to sports” crowd is ridiculous.
“I don’t do social media, because I think most people that do social media are just idiots or just haters, because they have no life and it’s easy to take shots at people who are successful when you’re unsuccessful,” Barkley said. “The thing is, they want you to stick to sports but they want their opinion too. You think about that, you always hear that whenever jocks say something about any situation, they say why won’t these guys stick to sports. Well, they won’t stick to just their job. They want you to speak if they agree with you. So, Seth, I feel your pain, I’m just not stupid enough to do social media like you, cause I don’t feel the need to talk to any of these fools out there who agree or disagree with me. I don’t say things to get a rise out of people, and I don’t say things so people say, ‘Oh he’s great.’ I don’t do either one of those things.”
Barkley’s feelings towards social media, especially Twitter, are well known, but his argument against the “stick to sports” crowd is a pretty good one.
Personalities in the sports media tend to get more flack for discussing politics or social issues than those in other industries, largely because people view sports as their escape from those problems. As things like politics, race, and gender rights have become issues within the sports world or discussed by major athletes, then those lines get blurred and they do become part of the sports story, making “stick to sports” a worthless expression.
However, while he and anyone else are well within their rights to speak about whatever issues they want, there is still merit to the question of whether Barkley is the proper choice for a television show on race.
