Never one to mince words, Charles Barkley said he would’ve punched Aaron Rodgers in the face.
Now, context is everything. And if you had been half paying attention to CBS Mornings and heard Barkley utter that phrase, you wouldn’t be surprised that Sir Charles would have the sheer audacity to say that on national television. But the delivery and how out of left field the comments were what made it surprising.
It’s also not lost on us that Barkley said he’d punch the New York Jets quarterback while a “Draymond Green returns” banner flashed on the screen.
Barkley appeared on the CBS morning show and chatted about many topics with Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson. Barkley was wrapping up talking about Draymond Green’s return to suspension, mentioning that the embattled Golden State Warriors star has crossed the line a few times. That caused King (who also hosts a CNN show with Barkley) to bring up Rodgers, who crossed the line with Jimmy Kimmel, insulting the famed ABC late-night host was connected to Jefferey Epstein.
“Some people said Aaron Rodgers crossed the line with Jimmy Kimmel. If Aaron Rodgers had said that about you — implied that you had been on the Epstein list — how would you handle that?” King asked.
“I’d have punched him in the face,” said Barkley.
King was confused, “What do you mean, punch him in the face?”
“You know what the hell ‘punch him in the face’ means,” Barkley said. “I think when you’re in the limelight, people get to say things about you that goes with the territory. But when you start comparing people, saying you’ve been hanging out with pedophiles — people having sex with underage girls; that’s dangerous to me.
“I love how Jimmy responded…I don’t know Aaron Rodgers; he’s always been cordial. I’ve said hello to him a couple of times. But like I said, you can make fun of celebrities, that goes with our territory. But, like, that’s slander. When you say people like, ‘Well, he hangs out with pedophiles and people having sex with underage girls,’ I would just…”
King cut Barkley off as if saying he meant he’d punch Rodgers in the face as a metaphor.
“No, I meant rhetorically, whatever the hell,” added Barkley. “See, she got me using big words. I don’t even know what those words mean. ‘Rhetorical, metaphorically,’ I don’t even know what those words mean…Hell yeah, I’d punch him in the face.”
We’ll have to wait until the next NFL season for Rodgers to respond to this on The Pat McAfee Show. But as we know, he tends to talk about topics well past their expiration date.
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About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.