Charles Barkley Defends Gay Players Saying We Should Ditch Guys Who Suck
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Charles Barkley has always been outspoken, moreso in retirement where he doesn’t have to hold back. With a brand new fan base from his stints on Inside the NBA Barkley has gone out of his way to defend gay athletes.
Back in a 2011 interview with the Washington Post he talked about gay athletes and their place in the locker room. The former NBA All-Star claimed that gay players pose no problem.
Barkley said: “Man, we need to outlaw guys who suck at sports,” Barkley said in the interview. “I’d rather have a gay guy who can play than a straight guy who can’t play.”
in 2014, Jason Collins came out as gay and became the first publicly gay athlete to play in the NBA. Collins played for the Brooklyn Nets, along with Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson and several other popular players.
At the time, Collins was in the late stages of his career, and this ended up being his last season in the league. However, the 7-footer received nothing but support from his teammates and other players in the league.
Many high-profile NBA players publicly supported Collins, including Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash. However, there is a belief that basketball players are mostly homophobic and that they wouldn’t accept a gay player, which is something Charles Barkley strongly disagrees with.
“I really like ESPN,” Barkley said in the radio interview. “They do a great job. But like once every two or three months, they bring all these people on there, and they tell me how me and my team are going to respond to a gay guy.”
“Any professional athlete who gets on TV or radio and says he never played with a gay guy is a stone-freakin’ idiot,” Barkley added in his interview.
The Philadelphia 76ers legend also admitted that he supported same-sex marriage. He also added that, as a Black person, he could not support any type of discrimination.
