Charles Barkley under fire for telling female reporter he’d hit her

By Terry Shropshire
Nov 20, 2019
12:51 pm

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is under fire for allegedly telling a female reporter that he would hit her.

Barkley, the former Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns legend who is now a two-time Emmy Award-winning analyst for “NBA on TNT,” allegedly told “Axios” reporter Alexis McCammond, “I don’t hit women, but if I did I would hit you.”

McCammond accused Barkley of making the remark “off the record” when she broached the topic of which Democratic presidential candidate he would support. She said that set off a lively discussion about former Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who had just announced his presidential candidacy.

Just FYI Charles Barkley told me tonight “I don’t hit women but if I did I would hit you,” and then when I objected to that he told me I “couldn’t take a joke.”

— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) November 20, 2019

Barkley, through a tweet posted by Turner Sports Wednesday morning, Nov. 20, admitted to making the questionable comment and apologized for it.

Statement on behalf of Charles Barkley in response to tweet by Axios reporter Alexi McCammond:

“My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable. It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.”

— Warner Bros. Discovery Sports U.S. PR (@WBDSportsPR) November 20, 2019

According to McCammond, the allegedly inflammatory comment happened when Barkley said he favored Patrick, but then when someone else near Barkley mentioned Pete Buttigieg, and Barkley also said he loved him, McCammond said Barkley contradicted himself.

There are almost no times I will beak an OTR “agreement” but this is not OK. And it was all because he came in talking about how he loves Deval Patrick and once someone from Pete‘s campaign came around he said he loved Pete and I reminded him he previously said he was a Deval fan

— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) November 20, 2019

After the tweet went viral, McCammond wrote, “I hate being part of a story, so here’s a reminder that this is so much bigger than me: nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the US. One in four women and one in nine men experience severe intimate partner physical violence.”

She continued, “It’s not about me or my feelings — tho I’m grateful for the many friends who have reached out. But it’s about refusing to allow this culture to perpetuate because of silence on these issues. It’s easier and less awkward to be silent, but that helps no one but the perpetrator. I encourage you to consider how you’d respond if a friend said something similar to what Barkley said tonight. And then challenge yourself to ask the same of yourself if a stranger (or celebrity) said that. I hope the answers are the same. Everyone should be held accountable.”