Basketball Hall of Famer and broadcast legend Charles Barkley launched into a raw expletive-laced defense of LGBTQ reality this week, ripping Bud Light protesters and others who continually express intolerance of people’s differences. In slamming people he characterized as narrow-minded, Barkley called them some names not fit for print.
Barkley’s rant came during the a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, and immediately drew high praise from the LQBTQ community and its supporters. It was widely shared on social media where, unlike nearly every other celebrity of his stature, Barkley maintains no presence — all the retweets came from other accounts. Here’s one account of the scorching Barkley take:
Comments on Barkley’s candor were largely positive on a Fox Sports show below where it was discussed: “Charles always entertaining and has an open mind despite coming from a part of society (male sports) that sometimes is closed minded. Good for him.”
Another points out that Barkley is reacting to the situations of people who are close to him, writing: “When he makes these statements, he’s thinking about friends and their kids who live it everyday. Magic (Johnson) and Dwyane Wade are 2 friends with trans gender kids.”
But fans who know Barkley’s history expressed that he proposed a self-inflicted punishment for his own cancellation that might be akin to torture. Barkley said “you can’t cancel me” but then said if his comments did lead to “cancellation,” he had a backup plan — “if y’all fire me and gimme all that money I’m just gonna be playing golf all day…”
That’s where some longtime Barkley fans thought the punishment was too harsh, no matter what the crime. Playing golf all day might sound like paradise to the average duffer, but for Barkley — fans worry — it could be hell and, Groundhog Day-style, hell again and again.
“Chuck saying he’d play golf all day after getting cancelled,” joked one longtime Barkley fan, “sounds worse that any other punishment if you think of his swing.”
Another said “if golf is plan b Charles better not get cancelled.”
Barkley, who finished 81st out of 92 competitors at the Tahoe American Century celebrity golf event where he made his comments, has long struggled with his golf game. Golf has, he has admitted, has caused him extended periods of mental anguish.
Barkley’s mental blocks in golf have been so brutal — and famous — that an entire TV show episode was once made about Tiger Woods‘s ex-coach trying to help Barkley hit the golf ball. Hank Haney, the teacher, called Barkley his “lifelong project.”
