Charles Barkley will always say what’s on his mind, regardless of the consequences — or, sometimes, even facts. He’ll gladly rail against analytics, even though basically every team in the league uses them at at this point. He consistently recycles his maxim that jump-shooting teams can’t win in the playoffs, despite the Warriors proving him very, very wrong while capturing the Larry O’Brien Trophy last season. Often, because of these outdated opinions, Barkley can come off as a nuisance or an atavistic annoyance.
Yet when Charles pairs his outspoken nature with his intelligence on (some) other matters, such as Donald Trump’s bigoted and hateful presidential campaign, he truly shines. Though Chuck was out of the studio on Thursday night, the Inside the NBA crew brought him on to talk, but it was about politics and not basketball. As is his wont, Barkley didn’t hold anything back. He called Trump’s campaign sad and insulting, and said his supporters were “losers” who blamed others for their own problems.
At no point in time did he say anything wrong. Trump’s campaign thus far has been one of fear-mongering, racism, bigotry and incredible deafness to the American ideal. He is making America hate again, or perhaps — more accurately — just more so than usual.
But Barkley didn’t stop there. He proceeded to rip into CNN, saying they’ve been chasing ratings and “kissing butt,” essentially becoming another FOX News. So what if CNN is TNT’s sister network; since when has Barkley ever cared about toeing the line? You can tell this is important to him, and the crew in the studio (except Shaq, who ruins the poignancy of the interview with an inane comment at the end) deserves credit for just letting Barkley go.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Barkley is held off the air for a few games after what he said about CNN, but a suspension or muzzling won’t change the fact that he was absolutely right about everything he said in this interview. Say what you want about Barkley’s basketball opinions, and even some of his other off-court analysis, but what he said on Thursday night was something that needed to be heard by the entire country.
(H/T Larry Brown Sports)
