Just weeks after losing its long-held national TV rights to the NBA, Turner made several key announcements this week signaling its intention to stay relevant in the live televised sports business.

First, the Warner Bros. Discovery unit locked up a key on-air talent, announcing that NBA Hall of Fame basketball star Charles Barkley will stay on Turner’s TNT network, even after his long-running studio show, Inside the NBA, seems destined to depart with the league after the upcoming 2024-25 season.

At the same time, Turner’s truTV announced the five week “Banana Ball World Tour” in partnership with the  Savannah Bananas, a Harlem Globetrotters-like exhibition baseball team and social media sensation with almost nine million followers on TikTok.

Under the agreement, the network will broadcast five consecutive live Friday night Savanna Bananas "games," played between the weeks of August 16 - September 13.

Also Read: NBA Closing In on $76 Billion in TV Money Over 11 Years … With No TNT

This all comes after the NBA chose to leave TNT following next season in favor of new national TV deals with NBCUniversal and Amazon, as well as its renewed rights agreement with Disney/ESPN. (Warner Bros. Discovery has sued the NBA for breach of contract, claiming it indeed matched Amazon’s $1.7 billion-a-season offer and should have retained TV rights.)

Analysts predict that the loss of the NBA could cost TNT as much as $600 million in annual profit.

Now, it looks like the network is attempting to cobble together its sports programming through myriad alternative live-sports sources.

In May, for example, Turner agreed to sublicense select College Football Playoff games from Disney/ESPN, entering the collegiate gridiron business for the first time. 

That was followed by a June decision by Turner to license U.S. TV rights to pro tennis’ French Open. 

The Savannah Bananas, whose entertainment style revolves around dancing players, flaming baseball bats and a "fans first" motto, have the impressive record of selling out every home game they’ve played since 2017

The team has yet to share revenue figures from 2024, but as of 2023 it had made more than $10 million in annual sales.

As for Barkley and Inside the NBA, Sports Illustrated reported that  WBD may transition its show, led by Barkley, into a multi-sport variety program, in which the hosts discuss other leagues that TNT owns the rights to.

“My deal is 10 years, $210 million,” Barkley previously told The Athletic. “Turner has to come to me ASAP and they have to guarantee my whole thing, or they can offer me a pay cut,which there is no chance of that happening and I’ll be (a) free agent.”

It now appears that the network has renewed its commitment to Barkley, and will continue to feature him in future sports programming.

“I love my TNT Sports family,” said Barkley in a statement. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future.”

Charles Barkley, co-host of Inside the NBA on TNT, said he is leaving the television business after the 2024-25 season amid speculation that the drama network will soon lose its NBA television rights deal.

Also Read: Is Charles Barkley's Retirement Declaration Believable … or Bluff?

Barkley, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the most recognizable personalities in TV sports, said Friday during NBA TV's postgame coverage of the Dallas Mavericks’ victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the NBA Finals that he will end his television career, regardless of whether TNT renews its NBA rights deal. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network reportedly will lose its current TV rights agreement with the league to NBCUniversal when the new NBA TV deals are announced shortly.  The reported new NBA TV rights package, worth $75 billion, will include distribution partners Disney, NBCUniversal, and Prime Video.

“There's been a lot of noise around our network the last few months. I just wanna say, I've talked to all of the other networks, but I ain't going nowhere other than TNT,” Barkley said. “But I have made the decision myself, no matter what happens, next year is gonna be my last year on television.”

A member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Barkley co-hosts Inide The NBA show — which airs during halftime and after TNT NBA game telecasts — along with Ernie Johnson Jr., Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith. The show has also been inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame. 

TNT in a statement called Barkley a “broadcasting icon,” adding that the network looks forward to “further discussion of our future plans with him.”

Barkley's announcement comes as the NBA Finals on ABC is averaging 11.57 million viewers, which is even with the first three games of the 2023 Denver Nuggets-Miami Heat finals. Game 4 ratings were not available at press time.

Inside the NBA star Charles Barkley lashed out at Warner Bros. Discovery management Thursday, with the conglomerate now appearing as though it might let the opportunity to renew NBA TV rights, along with Barkley's popular studio show, Inside the NBA, slip away. 

"Morale sucks, plain and simple," the emotional NBA Hall-of-Fame player said during a morning appearance on Dan Patrick's podcast. 

Barkley has been a fixture on TNT's influential studio show for 24 years -- long enough to recall meeting some of the Inside the NBA crew's now college-aged children when they were infants. 

The uncertainty among the crew, which Barkley described as "family," as to whether Warner and its TNT channel will lose NBA rights after the 2024-25 season "just sucks right now," he told Patrick. 

"My two favorite wines are Inglenook and Opus. We've got the best studio show in the business, and these clowns I work for have turned us into Ripple, Boone's Farm and Thunderbird," said Barkley, referencing the three Sports Emmys Inside the NBA won earlier this week. 

Barkley said he's also frustrated that TNT just announced a sub-licensing deal with ESPN for the College Football Playoff. 

"I’m like, ‘Well damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA.' We’ve never had college football before. Shouldn’t we spend every dime we have to keep the NBA," he added. 

Barkley also said that he's discussed with co-stars Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal and Ernie Johnson the possibility of having his own production company, Fine Line Productions, produce a new version of Inside the NBA with the same cast and crew, and license it to either Amazon or NBCU. 

Barkely didn't mention WBD CEO David Zaslav by name, but he did reference "the guy who said, 'We don't need the NBA.'" 

Chances that Warner Bros. Discovery will reach a TV rights renewal with the NBA appear bleak.

The league is reportedly in the final stages of forging $7.4 billion dollars' worth of per-season contracts with Disney/ESPN, Amazon and Comcast/NBC Universal. And Warner on Wednesday announced a five-year deal with ESPN to sublicense College Football Playoff games for TNT.

Several sports media pundits took that as a sign that WBD had already decided to let the NBA go. 

“I wanted to make sure I covered my ass.” 

That was how NBA playing legend Charles Barkley, star of the popular TNT studio show Inside the NBA, explained a clause in his current 10-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, which lets him opt out of the deal if the conglomerate loses rights to the NBA starting in the 2025-26, when the league's new national TV deals take hold. 

Making the media rounds Wednesday, Barkley hopped on the phone with ESPN 850 AM radio in Cleveland to discuss his situation. 

Also read: Are Kenny, Chuckster and 'Inside the NBA' Moving to Amazon?

Barkley recounted that as he and his agent negotiated a deal that will reportedly pay him upwards of $100 million, "I said wait a minute. If you guys lose the NBA, I wanted to make sure I could get out of there."

The erstwhile “Round Mound of Rebound” said he and his backers expected either Apple or Amazon to enter the bidding fray.

“We didn't know NBC was going to come out of the woodwork,” Barkley noted.

It was Amazon that secured a new slice of the NBA’s national TV deal, agreeing to a basic framework with the league last week. With fellow national rights incumbent Disney/ESPN already locking down a deal in principle, TNT Sports parent WBD must surpass a reported $2.5 billion-a-season bid from Comcast NBCUniversal if it’s going to hold onto an NBA national TV contract its had since 2007.

It's unclear as to the “opt-out” capabilities of Barkley’s Inside the NBA castmates, Ernie Johnson, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. On Thursday, the Sports Business Journal's Tom Friend reported that Johnson, who also works Turner Networks' coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, as well as play-by-play for Major League Baseball games, would stay behind in the event of an NBA exodus from WBD. 

But Barkley seemed emphatic and enthusiastic about moving his TNT post- and pre-game studio show to Amazon if it comes to that.

“I love TNT, and they’ve been great to me,” Barkley said. “But it's like Neno Brown said in New Jack City, ‘It’s always business, never personal.’ ”

CNN has dunked its weekly, primetime talk show King Charles after a five-month run.

The series, which featured CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King and NBA Hall of Famer/Inside The NBA co-host Charles Barkley discussing topical issues, launched in November 2023 but failed to generate strong ratings, according to published reports.

The series, the brainchild of former CNN CEO Chris Licht, was expected to help build CNN’s primetime ratings, but drew lackluster ratings from the start. In December,  Barkley criticized Nielsen for not accurately reporting all potential viewership for the show. 

Overall, the series averaged 459,000 viewers through its run, according to Nielsen numbers reported by the New York Post.

The move comes during a particularly busy time for Barkley and his Inside The NBA show as the NBA playoffs launch this week.

After his new CNN show with Gayle King, King Charles, debuted to lackluster numbers, Charles Barkley blasted Nielsen as “clowns” who really don’t know who is watching what on TV.

Nielsen said that the first episode of King Charles averaged 501,000 viewers, putting it behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC.

“An article came out that our ratings weren’t great … but I want to tell my team, man, these Nielsen people are the biggest clowns in the world. Name me one person you know with a Nielsen box,” Barkley said on The Steam Room, a podcast he hosts with Inside the NBA co-star Ernie Johnson.

“These Nielsen people try to say our ratings weren’t great, but we won a certain demographic. Hey man, to my team, f---- them,” Barkley ranted. “Don’t you worry about what people tell you about your ratings? Nobody knows what people are watching. They don’t! You got a group of people who get to dictate who gets hired and fired, and that’s the part that sucks about the Nielsen ratings.”

Nielsen did not return a call seeking comment.

VideoAmp, one of Nielsen’s measurement rivals, painted a somewhat brighter picture of King Charles viewership.

According to VideoAmp, the show premiere was seen by 562,000 viewers, 12% more than Nielsen estimated. That puts it in the top 10 in its timeslot.

King Charles was the No. 1 show in prime time among Black audiences, VideoAmp said, and in the top 5 across all linear television among Black viewers in its time slot. 

It was also CNN’s second highest-rated show for the week, behind Anderson Cooper 360. 

Gayle King and Charles Barkley are officially teaming up for a new weekly primetime show on CNN.

CNN CEO Chris Licht announced that the show will be called King Charles and will air on Wednesday nights starting in the fall and continuing into 2024.

“This show will be an exciting new way we are delivering culturally relevant programming and unique perspectives to our audience, from two incredibly dynamic personalities,“ Licht said. ”We are excited that they are both able to join us in addition to their current respective roles with Gayle continuing to anchor CBS Mornings.” 

Reports that CNN was trying to get Barkley and King to do a show to shore up the news networks sagging primetime ratings have been circulating for weeks.

Barkley is the NBA hall of famer turned basketball analyst for TNT, which like CNN, is part of Warner Bros. Discovery. 

“King Charles exemplifies the one-team, one-company mentality with Charles playing double duty at CNN and in his role at WBD Sports,” Licht said.

Both Barkley and King said they they hadn’t planned on adding new television jobs.

On NBA Tip-Off on TNT Saturday, Barkley said that when approached with the idea, he said, “Hell no. I don’t want to be on TV more.” But when he heard he would be working with King, he changed his mind. “Oh yeah. I’ll work with Gayle. That’s the only way.”

King said she felt the same way.

CNN CEO Chris LIcht, looking to boost a low-scoring primetime lineup, is reportedly trying to get NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to do a primetime show on the news network.

Barkley has built a career as an outspoken, award-winning commentator on TNT’s Inside the NBA. TNT and CNN are both owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

According to Puck News, Licht is in negotiations to get Barkley to do a news-oriented primetime show. In the show, Barkley would interview newsmakers, journalists and other guests about the topics of the day.

“The conceit is that a genuine, outspoken, often humorous figure like Barkley might be a bigger draw than the traditional self-serious newsman, and might be better suited to ask guests the kinds of questions that average Americans actually care about,” Puck’s Dylan Byers wrote.

“Chris is having conversations with dozens of culturally relevant individuals from the worlds of news, sports, entertainment, and comedy,” a CNN spokesperson told Puck.

Last year, Barkley signed a new contract to stay with Inside the NBA.

CNN has been struggling in primetime. Host Chris Cuomo was dropped after the network discovered he’d been inappropriately advising his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Another CNN primetime host, Don Lemon, has been moved to CNN’s morning show. ■

Hoops legend and host of TNT’s award-winning Inside the NBA Charles Barkley will be a special guest on the first edition of the NHL on TNT Face Off pregame show, which will be presented commercial free Wednesday night.

TNT says that Barkley is a “passionate” NHL fan, and he’ll join TNT’s new studio analysts Wayne Gretzky, Anson Carter, Rick Tocchet, Paul Bissonette and host Liam McHugh on the show.

The pre-game show will be followed by a hockey doubleheader with the New York Rangers skating against the Washington Capitals first, followed by the Colorado Avalanche playing the Chicago Blackhawks.

NHL on TNT Face Off is presented by sponsor Verizon.

The season, AT&T’s TNT and The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN will be televising NHL games, replacing Comcast’s NBC Sports.

TNT will take an inside look at its long-running NBA series Inside The NBA as part of a four-part documentary debuting March 4.

The series, The Inside Story, looks at the 30-year history of the series, which features Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal -- from its creation to its current fan and league popularity, according to the network.

The documentary features never-before-seen footage and interviews with celebrities, production crew members and sports reporters discussing how the show was able to straddle the lines of sports and entertainment, with a willingness to push the boundaries as it engages viewers in an impactful and enjoyable way.

The documentary series will run over four consecutive nights beginning March 4.

“Inside the NBA is a unique show that has had significant cultural impact within the sports broadcasting landscape,” said Craig Berry, chief content officer for Turner Sports. “That is attributed to the authenticity and chemistry of Ernie, Charles, Kenny and Shaq, along with countless people who have contributed to its success through the years. We hope everyone joins us in this journey as we look back and celebrate The Inside Story.”

Turner Sports said it will televise a third golf challenge event, The Match: Champions for Change, with Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley taking on Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning on Nov. 27.

The event is being sponsored by Capital One and will appear live on TNT with live content on Turner’s Bleacher Report streaming service.

This is the third in a series of The Match events. Tiger Woods, golf’s biggest attraction will be absent for the first time. Earlier this year Mickelson and Manning participated in The Match: Champions for Charity, along with Woods and quarterback Tom Brady.

The competition format will be a modified alternate shot match play with five-time Major Champion Mickelson teaming with basketball Hall of Famer and NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley, as they take on three-time NBA Champion Stephen Curry – a near scratch golfer – and two-time Super Bowl Champion Peyton Manning, who played a key role in his team winning the last edition of Capital One’s The Match.

The players will again be wearing microphones, giving viewers enhanced access to the event. Cart Cam will also return.

“I’m excited to return for the third edition of Capital One’s The Match and get out on the course with these three legendary athletes,” said Mickelson. “While we may need a handicap for Chuck, I’m looking forward to playing with Peyton and Stephen and to help raise money for another important cause. It’s also going to give fans and viewers an up-close look at Stone Canyon Golf Club, a place that I’m extremely proud of and excited to show how special it is.”

Barkley, Mickelson’s teammate, added: “Capital One’s The Match has been a lot of fun to be a part of over the past few years and I’m excited to finally show off my skills on the course. Phil and I got this, I GUARR-AAAN-TEEEE!!!”

“Last year I had the incredible opportunity to play a small role in the rich history of Howard University through the game of golf,” said Curry. “I truly believe an investment in HBCUs is an investment in our future and I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to support these great institutions alongside some of my favorite players . . . and Chuck.”

Manning, Curry’s teammate, added: “Capital One’s The Match in May was such a memorable experience for me – not just competing against rivals and friends but, more importantly, contributing to COVID-19 and food insecurity relief efforts. I’m proud of the work the PeyBack Foundation has done to support HBCU students in both Louisiana and Tennessee, and I’m looking forward to helping raise additional funding and awareness for HBCUs through Capital One’s The Match.”

The Match will be held at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Arizona, owned by Mickelson Golf Properties, and will benefit Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Other initiatives are to be announced, Turner said.

“HBCUs are testaments to the ongoing achievements of the Black community in this country. As part of our work to advocate for equity and justice, we are honored to use the funds raised from Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Change to help strengthen HBCUs and create pathways to greater opportunity for the graduates of these vital institutions,” said Andy Navarrete, head of external affairs at Capital One.

The event will be closed to the public and tournament organizers are working with public health officials on competition and production logistics to ensure the event follows safety and health protocols.

Turner Sports this Sunday (May 24) will take viewers to the golf course for a live competition featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson that is expected to raise $10 million to benefit COVID-19 relief.

Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity will feature Woods and Mickelson in a sequel to their November 2018 Turner Sports-distributed pay-per-view golf match, as well as iconic NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The event is Turner Sports’ first live sports telecast since the COVID-19 pandemic forced most live sports events to the sidelines. 

Live coverage of the tournament airing on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN will feature access with all players having open mics throughout the entire competition. The players will have the capability of communicating directly with other golfers and  broadcast commentators, which includes former NBA star Charles Barkley.

Turner Sports chief content officer Craig Barry recently talked about the origins and production of the event.

How did this event come together in light of the pandemic?

It’s really been months of preparation and it’s touched every part of our organization. Despite the pandemic, and with everyone working remotely, we’ve all come together in support of the event and we’re excited to produce a fun, entertaining event this weekend. We have four of the most iconic athletes on the planet involved and it’s all for COVID-19 relief. We hope fans will be able to take a break and enjoy it.

How big is The Match for sports-starved fans in general and golf fans in particular?

From the response we’ve been seeing, there’s strong interest in this event from both hardcore and casual sports fans. Above all, we hope it will drive meaningful funding for COVID-19 relief, while also offering people a bit of distraction from everything else they are facing in this unprecedented moment in time.

How has advertisers responded to The Match?

We were seeing a very strong marketplace before the pandemic, so it’s not a surprise that this event has generated an overwhelming response from our advertising partners. Capital One, as the title sponsor, and all of our marketing partners have enthusiastically supported both the event and its mission to drive funding for COVID-19 relief. We’re proud that we’ve been able to bring together these partners and hopefully deliver some moments that bring levity to viewers, all while maximizing how much funding we can raise in those relief efforts.

What production adjustments has Turner Sports made to televise the event due to the pandemic?

As you can imagine, our event footprint is significantly reduced to only include those individuals that are essential to the production. Most of those personnel have been hired locally for this event. That said, we’re confident in producing a high quality, entertaining show for our viewers.

What are your viewership expectations for The Match?

The key number we’re focused on for this event is the amount of funding for COVID-19 relief. That’s at the center of everything we’re doing. We don’t project viewership numbers, but we have four of the best athletes in the world on display and we think it is going to be a lot of fun for us and our fans.

Is Turner Sports developing on any other live sports events to televise in the near future?

We’re constantly seeking innovative ways to deliver premium sports content for our fans across all platforms, with this event being the latest example of that commitment. We’re very engaged with all of our partners and we’re going to keep exploring opportunities to provide content that truly resonates with fans.

For Ernie Johnson, the 30 years he’s worked on TNT’s Inside the NBA have zipped by.

“It’s like a blink,” Johnson said. “It seems like a couple weeks ago, I walked into that building and started doing the show.”

Initially launched on CNN, Inside the NBA this season marks its 30th anniversary. Johnson was joined by former NBA players Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, and the show grew into an unpredictable, engaging program that transcended basketball to become a pop-culture fixture and one of a handful of programs in Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame.

TNT will mark the anniversary by showing classic clips and memories from the show and asking viewers to vote on their favorites.

RELATED: Busy Offseason Has Fans, Sponsors Eager for NBA Tip-Off

During the playoffs Inside the NBA really takes off. Over the past five years, it averaged 2.3 million viewers, topping all of the broadcast networks’ late night shows among viewers and men in the key demos. There are some viewers who skip the game and watch the studio show, and there are also some advertisers who don’t advertise in games but run commercials during the post-game festivities.

Johnson said the show became fun when Smith — a two-time NBA champion with the Houston Rockets — retired as a player and joined the show full-time. “The show hit a new level when Charles came aboard,” Johnson added. “He changed the landscape for shows like that in any sports.”

The show has endured because of its chemistry in front of and behind the camera, Turner Sports executive vice president and chief content officer Craig Barry said. Early on, it was decided not to rehearse and to make the show’s discussions spontaneous.

“We don’t produce the guys,” Barry said. “The guys produce themselves.”

Now that the show is 30 years old, Barry said, it is looking to gauge what kind of impact it has had not only on sports, but on culture in general.

Barry was a production assistant on Inside the NBA 30 years ago. He helped steer the show towards including pop culture and was in favor of adding players to the on-camera mix.

His first encounter with Barkley came when he was given a company credit card and told to take the player known as the Round Mound of Rebound out to a club in Atlanta’s Bucktown neighborhood.

“Charles was the most gracious guy ever,” Barry recalled. When people would try to talk to Barkley or get his autograph, Barkley went out of his way to introduce them to “my friend Craig,” Barry said. Then Barry went to the bathroom. When he came out Barkley was gone and so was their car.

The prank-filled atmosphere is good for audiences and also good for business. “It’s not your traditional studio show,” Turner Sports senior vice president for ad sales Jon Diament said. But Inside the NBA is so entertaining, advertisers are eager to be included.

Prices for spots during Inside the NBA averaged $46,517, according to SQAD MediaCosts: National, not much less than spots in regular season NBA games, which cost $48,388.

Kia, the presenting sponsor for the past eight years, congratulated the show on its longevity. “Kia’s ‘Give It Everything’ brand mantra syncs perfectly with the show’s ‘Win or Go Home’ approach and we look forward to many years of continued future success,” said Michael Cole, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Kia Motors America.

“They’re not your average studio guys,” added Madhavi Tadikonda, senior vice president and group director, investment, at media agency Canvas, which handles Kia. “They have fun, they make it relevant not just to sports fans, but to pop culture in general. It’s a ton of everything you could ever want in a sports show, and there are a lot of non-sports watchers watching the show. So it’s a great property for us to associate ourselves with.”

Kia is looking at opportunities to participate in the anniversary celebration, Tadikonda said. Among the options is creating branded content with the hosts.

Last year, fans were invited to take shots at a basket on the back of a Kia driven by O’Neal. “The show knows the brand so well that they come up with a lot of creative things with the Kia team and they get executed flawlessly,” Tadikonda said.

No Nostalgia Overload

Barry said TNT won’t be overdoing its 30th anniversary celebration. “We’re not going to paste it all over,” he said.

The show also plans to put together the 30 greatest Inside the NBA moments and have fans vote on them.

Many of those best moments live on YouTube: Ernie running down Kenny as Kenny tries to duplicate Kobe Bryant’s leap over a car; a diaper-changing contest between Barkley and new father Kenny; the set being turned into a champion’s lounge and Barkley being excluded; Shaq knocking down the set while running to the video board.

How much longer will Inside the NBA go on? “I can go on as long as you want me to,” said Johnson, noting that they’ve been fortunate that other job offers never came to pull the cast apart.

After 30 years, Johnson doesn’t expect the show to change much this season. “I think we’re very fortunate to be in that situation where the folks at Turner look at us and say, hey, let’s not mess with it,” he said. “Let’s let those guys do their thing.”

NBA on TNT analyst and former basketball star Charles Barkley has never been shy about voicing his opinions on a variety of issues. Yet the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer said he has no interest in expressing himself on social media.

Barkley told a media gathering on May 4 at The Paley Center for Media in New York about his TNT documentary series (premiering May 11), American Race (pictured), that he has no plans to tweet any musings or Instagram any photos anytime soon.

“I’ve never gone to social media because I think it gives people … the opportunity to voice their opinion on everything and everybody, so it gives people opportunity to be racist, sexist, homophobic,” he said. “Those are the negative points to social media.”

As for the four-episode show — which debuts tonight (May 11)  — Barkley told me he’s not worried about critics who question why a likeable, former NBA star is taking on as serious an issue as racism in a series. 

“I don’t worry about critics who say, ‘Why is a basketball star doing a serious show?’” he said. “Those are the same fools who criticized [NBA hall of famer] Michael Jordan for not taking a stand. I’m just going to try to do good, and my critics can kiss my ass.”

Watch Barkley discuss 'American Race':