It’s been almost three months since we last heard from Charles Barkley during the NBA Playoffs. During a recent interview, though, the outspoken TNT broadcaster made his point loud and clear about the events in Charlottesville.
Barkley, an Alabama native, talked with Rick Karle, the sports director at WBRC-FOX6 in Birmingham, and expressed his thoughts on the protest in Virginia that left one dead and a country appalled.
“I’m not going to waste my time screaming at a neo-nazi who’s going to hate me no matter what,” Barkley said. “And I’m not going to waste my time worrying about these statues. I’ve always ignored them.”
The Hall of Famer said he would rather focus on how he can make the world a better place.
“I’m going to keep trying to make a difference, No. 1 in the black community because I’m black,” Barkley said. “But I’m also going to try to do good things in the world.”
Check out Barkley’s powerful take:
#ConfederateStatues A unique take from #CharlesBarkley pic.twitter.com/l9Dz43sLp3
— Rick Karle WVTM 13 (@RickKarle) August 17, 2017
In May, Barkley produced and hosted TNT’s four-part series, “American Race.” During the show, Barkley spoke with white nationalist, Richard Spencer. Barkley later received criticism for having Spencer on the show, but he defended it by saying, “I am glad we had him on the show because I want to know who my enemies are.”
In a longer interview with The Undefeated, Barkley said this about Spencer:
“It was the most disappointing, frustrating, angry I could probably envision myself in my life. I never worry about a fool calling me the N-word and things like that. But if you have economic power and you can make sure people can never get economic power, that’s racism.
“Calling people names just means you’re ignorant, you don’t know any better. But if you’ve got the keys to a business and you’re not hiring people, that’s when s— can get dangerous, when you can hold people down economically.”
