A female reporter raised the alarm Wednesday by claiming that TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley told her, “I don’t hit women, but if I did, I would hit you.”
Axios.com contributor Alexi McCammond was in Atlanta to cover the coming Democrat presidential debate and ran across Barkley who has attended several of the Democrat debates this year.
McCammond says that Barkley told her he felt like hitting her after he noted that he was a supporter of former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick who recently said he is jumping onto the 2020 hunt for the Democrat nomination. Barkley’s veiled threat came after McCammond interjected to point out that Barkley also said he was a supporter of South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
After she asked about Buttigieg, Barkley said he would hit her and when she objected to the threat the TNT sports commentator retorted that she “couldn’t take a joke.”
“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,'” McCammond tweeted on Wednesday.
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
In a follow up tweet, McCammond added that she felt compelled to report the threat.
“There are almost no times I will beak an OTR ‘agreement’ but this is not OK,” she wrote. “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.”
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
McCammond also tweeted a grainy photo of Barkley surrounded by reporters to prove she was there.
The reporter went on to exclaim that she does not want to make herself “part of the story” and that she is not crying about her feelings being hurt.
It’s not about me or my feelings — tho I’m grateful for the many friends who have reached out. But it’s about refusing to allow this culture to perpetuate because of silence on these issues. It’s easier and less awkward to be silent, but that helps NO ONE but the perpetrator.
— Alexi McCammond (@alexi) November 20, 2019
Other reporters noted that Barkley has a history of joking about beating women. Sports reporter Timothy Burke reminded his readers that Barkley got in trouble for joking about beating his wife in the 1990s.
The first serious conversations about domestic abuse in sports were sparked in 1990 by Barkley's comment about beating his wife. A year later, he spat on an eight-year-old girl during a game. A year after that, Nike featured him in the famous "not a role model" ad. https://t.co/xJSbFNKZie pic.twitter.com/Ahfq6JxL3T
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 20, 2019
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