Charles Barkley dares ESPN to fire him over outrageous Cardi B comments during NBA Finals
Charles Barkley has dared ESPN to fire him over his outrageous remarks about Cardi B during the NBA Finals.
The pundit chimed in as the network showed a brief clip of the rapper performing at halftime of Game 3 between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.
‘I don’t know if those [are] Bs,’ Barkley called out from off-camera about her appearance, in a video that has gone viral.
‘They might be Cardi Ds… I’m pretty sure those aren’t Bs… She’s got the wrong initials.’
As his fellow analysts were left cackling, they shared a tweet from a fan claiming that Shaquille O’Neal was ‘glued’ to Cardi B’s performance rather than the broadcast.
‘I sure am,’ O’Neal called out, with the laughter at Barkley’s comment continuing around him.
Charles Barkley has dared ESPN to fire him over his controversial Cardi B comments
The rapper performed at halftime of the Spurs vs Knicks NBA Finals Game 3 in New York
Addressing the moment for the first time since Monday’s game at Madison Square Garden, the 63-year-old insisted he is not concerned if his ESPN bosses disliked his joke.
‘I’m hoping they fire me,’ Barkley said on The Dan Patrick Show. ‘I got six or seven years left on my contract that they know I’ve got no chance of doing.
‘I would love for them to fire me and have to pay me for the next six or seven years.’
He continued: ‘I would love to get fired, I’m not gonna lie. Because there’s zero chance I’m gonna be working the next six or seven years, zero!
‘Come on, man. People can’t take a joke? They can kiss my ass. I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten all these years, but if anybody thinks everybody likes them, they’re a fool. So if people don’t like me or don’t have a sense of humor, they can kiss my ass.’
Barkley will be back at MSG on Wednesday night for Game 4 between the Knicks and Spurs, with the series poised at 2-1 after the Spurs won the previous game.
Fans watching from home seemed to find the comment as funny as Barkley’s colleagues.
‘Sir, another Chuck classic has hit the airwaves,’ one wrote on X, while another commented: ‘Barkley has no filter whatsoever… every broadcast turns into chaos.’
A different viewer wrote: ‘Only Charles Barkley can roast somebody that clean during a live game and make the whole timeline lose it. Legend behavior right there.’
Not all the fan reaction was positive though. One observer wrote: ‘The man is a grown adult on national television reducing a performer to her body like it’s 1995. It’s not funny, it’s not clever, it’s just sad.’
