Charles Barkley Apologizes for 'Unacceptable' Comments to Axios Reporter Alexi McCammond
On Tuesday evening, Axios reporter Alexi McCammond tweeted that Charles Barkley had told her, "I don't hit women but if I did I would hit you." McCammond objected to the comments, and Barkley told her she "couldn't take a joke."
According to McCammond, Barkley entered the room she was in and started talking about how much he loved Deval Patrick. Someone from Pete Buttigieg's campaign came over to Barkley, who then said how much he loved Buttigieg. McCammond mentioned Barkley's previous statement about loving Patrick, leading to Barkley's comments.
Just FYI Charles Barkley told me tonight “I don’t hit women but if I did I would hit you,” and then when I objected to that he told me I “couldn’t take a joke.”
— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) November 20, 2019
There are almost no times I will beak an OTR “agreement” but this is not OK. And it was all because he came in talking about how he loves Deval Patrick and once someone from Pete‘s campaign came around he said he loved Pete and I reminded him he previously said he was a Deval fan
— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) November 20, 2019
On Wednesday morning, Barkley released an apology via Turner Sports PR on Twitter: "My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable. It was an attempted joke that wasn't funny at all. There's no excuse for it and I apologize."
Statement on behalf of Charles Barkley in response to tweet by Axios reporter Alexi McCammond:
— TurnerSportsPR (@TurnerSportsPR) November 20, 2019
“My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable. It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.”
McCammond is a political reporter covering the 2020 election for Axios. Barkley is currently a host on TNT's Inside the NBA with Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson.