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Charles Barkley was not making any friends on Thursday night. Following an appearance on NBA on TNT Thursday night, Barkley made comments about the Breonna Taylor case that raised plenty of eyebrows.
While discussing the death of Taylor, who was shot and killed in her own home by Louisville police officers, Barkley said that the case shouldn’t be grouped into cases like George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery because Taylor’s boyfriend was at fault for shooting at the police officers first.
“It’s just bad the young lady lost her life, but we do have to take into account that her boyfriend did shoot at the cops and shot a cop,” Barkley said. “So, like I said, even though I’m really sorry she lost her life, I don’t think we can just put this in the same situation as George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.”
Barkley then made additional questionable comments about those who are saying we need to “defund the police.”
“I hear these fools on TV talk about ‘defund the police,’ we need police reform and prison reform and things like that because you know who ain’t gonna defund the cops, white neighborhoods and rich neighborhoods,” he added. “So that notion that they keep saying that, I’m like wait a minute who are Black people supposed to call? Ghostbusters? We need police reform.”
Barkley has a right to his opinion, but these certainly won’t be winning him any favors — especially at a time when the NBA is putting more focus than ever on social justice causes and the fight for equality.
