NBA legend Charles Barkley apologized Wednesday for what he told a female reporter Tuesday night. The player told Alexi McCammond, a reporter for the politics website Axios, “I don’t hit women but if I did, I would hit you.”
“My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable,” the former Philadelphia 76er said in a statement. “It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.”
The reporter tweeted about the incident last night. “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.'”
McCammond said that they were attending an event "off-the-record," and Barkley was talking about how he was a huge fan of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick. When someone from rival Pete Buttigieg's campaign came to talk with Barkley, the NBA player said he "loved Pete." McCammond then reminded Barkley that he just said he was a fan of Patrick. She also included a photo of the player at the event.
“The comments Charles Barkley made to me are not acceptable," McCammond responded to Barkley's statement. "Threats of violence are not a joke, & no person deserves to be hit or threatened like that. Silence only allows the culture of misogyny to fester. And those kinds of comments don’t merit off-the-record protections.”
This isn't the first time Barkley said he'd like to put his hands on somebody. Back in 2018, he said that he just wanted "somebody to punch him in the face," referring to Draymond Green during his heated argument with Rajon Rondo during a game between the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans.
