Charles Barkley told TMZ outside of the London Hotel in New York City that individuals criticizing President Obama for filling out a bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament are only doing so “because he’s black.”
“You people in America who are upset that President Obama did a bracket, why don’t you all just go say you don’t like him because he’s black,” the retired professional basketball player and NBA analyst said alongside his “Inside the NBA” co-host Kenny Smith.
“Get over yourselves,” Barkley continued. “Just go ahead and say it. … Cut through all the B.S., don’t say he takes too many vacations … just say we don’t like him because he’s black and that’ll cut through the middle man.”
“You all want to believe he’s from Kenya, so c’mon, man,” he added. “Stop making a big deal out of everything.”
Barkley avoided commenting directly on the quality of Obama’s “March Madness” predictions but insisted that he trusts the president’s opinions on hoops above all of his predecessors.
“I don’t know a lot of presidents,” said Barkley. “I’ve met, like, three or four. But, I take his basketball opinion over any other president.”
Ironically, Barkley just last month criticized Obama in an interview with Sports Illustrated by hinting that the president has not acted strongly enough to condemn ISIS.
Obama’s bracket has Villanova and Kentucky meeting in the final game, with Duke and Arizona rounding out the Final Four. Unfortunately, Villanova has already been defeated.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Barkley’s defense of Obama indicates his support of all Democratic politicians. In fact, the NBA commentator in the Sports Illustrated interview named New Jersey Gov. Christie (R) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) as potential candidates who interest him ahead of the 2016 presidential election while expressing his lack of excitement for Hillary Clinton.
