Charles Barkley, a National Basketball Association (NBA) legend and CNN commentator, threatened to punch black Trump supporters in the face if he sees them “walking around with a Trump mugshot.”
Barkley’s comments came during one of his CNN shows with Gayle King, during which King asked the retired NBA legend for his reaction to statements former President Donald Trump made during a recent conference.
During the show, CNN played clips of Trump’s remarks regarding the increased support he has received from the black population and the number of black Americans who wear t-shirts with the former president’s mugshot on them.
“You know who embraced it more than anybody else? The black population,” Trump said in one of the video clips. “It’s incredible. You see black people walking around with my mugshot – you know they do shirts.”
In another video clip, Trump discussed the relentless stream of indictments he has faced by President Joe Biden’s Justice Department and Democrat officials. Trump noted that some black supporters have claimed the former president is being discriminated against by the Biden administration.
“First of all, I’m just gonna say this,” Barkley said in response to Trump’s comments. “If I see a Black person walking around with a Trump mugshot, I’m gonna punch him in the face.”
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Barkley’s threat was quickly dismissed by King, who told the NBA legend, “You don’t mean that.” However, Barkley doubled down on his threat, saying, “Oh, I mean that sincerely.”
While King warned Barkley that he would be arrested if he punched Trump supporters in the face, Barkley said he would just bail himself out of jail and “go celebrate,” prompting laughter from the crowd.
“First of all, if I was at that [conference], I would’ve got up and walked out,” Barkley said. “That was an insult to all Black people.”
Barkley claimed that it was “not a fair comparison” for the former president to compare his ongoing legal battles with the discrimination the black population has faced throughout “black history.”
“He’s a billionaire, he’s had a great life, he’s been president of the United States,” Barkley added. “To insult Black people who have been discriminated against all these years and put them in the same category, I was just offended.”
Following Barkley’s threat, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, along with a video message. The Texas representative claimed that the NBA star “fell into the media’s trap” by taking two video clips from Trump’s two-hour speech completely “out of context.”
Hunt added, “One thing I can guarantee is when you see Wesley Hunt sporting ‘The Mugshot’ Sir Charles won’t be punching this Combat Vet in the face.”
