Matt Barnes accuses Jeff Pearlman of constant negativity: ‘Look in the mirror’

Jeff Pearlman sat down with Matt Barnes not too long ago to discuss his Tupac biography. Barnes apparently has been paying attention to Pearlman’s social media ever since, and he doesn’t like what he’s seeing.

During a recent episode of his All the Smoke podcast, Barnes delivered a pointed message to the New York Times bestselling author after Pearlman commented on the Lynn Jones situation. When Jones offered encouragement to Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen following a playoff loss, Pearlman wrote on Instagram: “Lovely, yes. Against the media role, yes. Let fans cheer.”

Barnes went directly at Jeff Pearlman’s social media presence, arguing that athletes might treat him poorly not because they’re a**holes, but because they’re reflecting back the energy the former Sports Illustrated scribe gives them.

“Jeff, I’m not singling you out because I want to go off on everyone, but I’ve been looking at you lately since we sat down, and all I’m seeing is just negativity,” Barnes said. “Every post is literally the worst person in baseball. This guy was the biggest a**hole. Have you ever thought about the reciprocated energy they may just be giving you? Maybe they don’t like your entitlement and the energy you give. So, instead of them being maybe a**holes, maybe they’re just giving you back the energy you give them. Maybe they just don’t like you. It doesn’t make them a**holes. They just don’t like you.”

Barnes continued: “So look in the mirror sometimes because as I said, every time I look at you, you’re telling the world who is the biggest [a**hole] and who’s this and who’s that instead of owning up to how you act, and maybe that’s the energy they just gave you back.”

Jeff Pearlman is rightfully concerned about the state of things — not just journalism, but the world and the United States broadly. He and Barnes almost certainly agree on most major issues facing the country, given that the former NBA player has not only hosted Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom on his podcast but has also been outspoken on political issues on the same side of the aisle. So, Barnes calling Pearlman relentlessly negative while presumably sharing his concerns about ICE enforcement, political extremism, and the erosion of democratic norms suggests that Matt Barnes’ problem is with how Pearlman chooses to express himself on social media.

Over the last week or so, Jeff Pearlman has posted about ICE allegedly beating up a 17-year-old and shared footage from an anti-ICE rally. He’s urged people not to avert their eyes from Renee Nicole Good being murdered. He’s called out Stephen A. Smith twice — once for a “sadly predictable” take on the Good case, once for his “fragility” on another topic. He’s revisited John Rocker after the former pitcher showed up at Ohio daycares, making racist comments while claiming to investigate fraud. He’s covered transfer portal stories on Nick Minucci, the quarterback at his alma mater, Delaware, and Marquis Gillis, Arizona State’s new halfback. He’s told the story of Yankees pitchers trading wives, kids, pets,s and homes for keeps. He’s highlighted Indiana’s third-string QB and a homeless University of Maine basketball player. He’s reflected on the emptiness of his kids leaving home and recalled meeting two future superstars when he was a young journalist. He’s even posted wholesome content, imploring people to pay it forward at their Dunkin drive-thru and laying out a hypothetical pledge if he ran for president.

It’s not “every post is literally the worst person in baseball.” It’s a mix of serious issues, sports stories, human-interest pieces, and personal reflection, all of which seem pretty standard for a journalist with a TikTok account in 2026.

Jeff Pearlman actually recognized this tendency in himself a few weeks back. He deleted an original TikTok criticizing Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s schtick and posted a follow-up video owning the comments, calling them “embarrassing” and apologizing to Russo. He said the post missed the mark and pledged to do better.

So Pearlman already looked in the mirror — the exact thing Matt Barnes is demanding he do — and adjusted. Meanwhile, Barnes is criticizing someone for negativity when the content in question largely reflects legitimate concerns about the state of things that Barnes himself likely shares.

Of course, they didn’t agree on Lynn Jones. But you can’t expect athletes — or the general public — to accept the media ethics that a classically trained journalist like Pearlman would clutch to, even if Barnes himself is part of the new media landscape.

We can argue about whether the sports media itself has been too negative toward the Jacksonville Free Press associate editor, but that’s a different conversation than whether Jeff Pearlman is relentlessly negative on his own social media platform. And by all accounts, based on the actual content he posts, he just seems to be covering the world as it exists.