Charles “I am not a role model” Barkley sat down with Ellen on the Ellen Degeneres Show and discussed his reasons for threatening to sit out the 2017 NBA All-Star game. It was to be held in Charlotte, NC just after the state passed an anti-LGBTQ bathroom bill (HB2) to prevent people from using bathrooms in public buildings that match their gender identity. The bill also banned local governments within North Carolina from passing pro-LGBTQ legislation.
The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, initially said the game was going to stay in Charlotte, but changed his mind after Barkley spoke up and six American senators, as well as some sponsoring businesses, followed his lead by sending letters to the NBA requesting the game be moved to another state. The game was eventually moved to New Orleans, LA.
The most noteworthy quote from the exchange:
I think any time you’re black, you’ve got to stand up for other people because black people know what discrimination is like and if you’re in a position of power, you’ve got to always stand up against discrimination.
Watch the full segment between Ellen and the not-so “turble” Hall of Fame basketball star here:
It’s nice to see people use their clout and privilege for good v. evil!
I wish this kind of thing happened a lot more often.
Sir Charles is a good dude. A flawed AS HELL person & TERRIBLE golfer🤣🤣🤣, but a really GOOD dude.
And even though he got a LOT of shit for that “I’m not a role model” commercial back in the day, if you really listened to what he was saying, dude was 100% right–
And it’s AWFULLY damn rich that The Mailmam (Karl Malone for those of y’all who were *not* b-ball junkies back in the 90’s😉) was out in public, negging Sir Charles for it, when Malone is the bag-o-dicks who wouldn’t sign autographs for kids unless he paid them (I know some kids who were YOUNG children & poor who were at pre-game warm ups where he was signing for others, and he refused their request for an autograph, “Because it probably isn’t for you, it’s for an adult who’s gonna sell it.” He killed their fandom that day, because until that moment he was their all-time favorite basketball player), and who was a statutory rapist who had to be taken to COURT to provide *anything* for his first kid, and also abandoned his 2nd & 3rd child until his daughter became a high school, then college, and finally a WNBA star.
Fitting, too, to read who wrote this story on the situation😉😈😈 she’s been a great journalist her whole career:
https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080507
I remember this from a few years back…definitely seems like a very nice dude.
https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/12/14/lin-wang-charles-barkley