Even Charles Barkley knows when he takes a joke too far.
Broadcasting the NCAA men’s Final Four in San Antonio this year, Barkley had the opportunity to address the city’s people directly at the Capital One Jam Fest. And true to form, Barkley remarked upon the heft of the ladies in the crowd.
“Y’all do got some big ol’ b*tches,” Barkley laughed onstage.
But in an appearance on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast, Barkley asked for a mulligan.
“I probably would want a do-over on that one, to be honest with you,” Barkley said. “Instead of saying b*tches, I would just say ‘women.’ Number one, I didn’t get any blowback. But I would prefer, I think I fumbled that one. I didn’t like using the word b*tches. So that’s on me.”
Barkley’s teasing relationship with the women of the South Texas city is extensive, and typically in good fun. While he occasionally blurs the line between giving it as a compliment and outright mocking their appearances, Barkley has long commented on the bodacious bodies of San Antonian women (not to mention the beaches of Galveston).
In this case, he wishes he hadn’t used such a loaded word.
“That was a fumble, a screw-up on my part. I take full responsibility,” Barkley said. But nobody said anything to me, but I’m smart enough to know when I screw up.”
As he suggested, TNT did not punish Barkley as he had been before for this joke. But he wants a take-back for his comments.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.