Axios reporter Alexi McCammond tweeted on Tuesday night that Charles Barkley told her, “I don’t hit women, but if I did I would hit you.” McCammond claims that when she objected, the NBA legend and TNT analyst told her that she “couldn’t take a joke.”
In a follow-up tweet, McCammond explained that “it was all because [Barkley] came in talking about how he loves Deval Patrick, and once someone from Pete’s [Buttigieg] campaign came around he said he loved Pete and I reminded him he previously said he was a Deval fan.”
McCammond also provided a photo of Barkley at the campaign event.
So, this is definitely not okay and definitely not something to “joke” about. And as others have chimed in on Twitter, unacceptable comments about women are nothing new from Barkley.
Barkley once told a room full of people at a NABJ panel in 2017 in New Orleans that Black women shouldn’t report sexual harassment/assault until they’re in power positions at the work place. https://t.co/nHDjF36SJ1
— Carron J. Phillips (@carronJphillips) November 20, 2019
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1197013217593171968
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1197013932495581186
Expect a statement soon from TNT/Turner Sports (Update: Turner Sports and Barkley released a statement).