Charles Barkley is not a person to mince his words, even if the context is not always 100 percent.
Talking to a trio of CBS morning show anchors Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson, the former NBA MVP was peppered about questions ranging from the return of Gilden State Warriors Draymond Green and the Aaron Rodgers disagreement with Jimmy Kimmel.
Barkley literally, or figuratively or rhetorically (dependant on how you interpret his words) said he would have punched Rodgers in the face.
“Some people said Aaron Rodgers crossed the line with Jimmy Kimmel. If Aaron Rodgers had said that about you — implied that you had been on the Epstein list — how would you handle that?” King asked.
“I’d have punched him in the face,” said Barkley.
King appeared confused, “What do you mean, punch him in the face?”
“You know what the hell ‘punch him in the face’ means,” Barkley said. “I think when you’re in the limelight, people get to say things about you that goes with the territory. But when you start comparing people, saying you’ve been hanging out with pedophiles — people having sex with underage girls; that’s dangerous to me.
“I love how Jimmy responded…I don’t know Aaron Rodgers; he’s always been cordial. I’ve said hello to him a couple of times. But like I said, you can make fun of celebrities, that goes with our territory. But, like, that’s slander. When you say people like, ‘Well, he hangs out with pedophiles and people having sex with underage girls,’ I would just…”
King wanted clarification on whether Barkley meant actually hitting Rodgers, or did he use the expression as a metaphor.
“No, I meant rhetorically, whatever the hell,” added Barkley.
“See, she got me using big words. I don’t even know what those words mean.
“‘Rhetorical, metaphorically,’ I don’t even know what those words mean…Hell yeah, I’d punch him in the face.”
