NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley torched the city of San Francisco while commentating the NBA’s All-Star Game on Sunday night.
During the third quarter of the Indianapolis-based contest, Barkley asked Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller, “hey Reggie, if you had a chance to be in the cold or being around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco…”
Barkley was immediately drowned out by boos from his fellow commentators, including Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, who play in San Francisco.
“Ohhh no, we love San Francisco,” one broadcaster claimed.
“No we don’t!” Barkley rebutted.
Charles Barkley again bashed San Francisco, this time around talk of the cold in Indianapolis. “If you had the chance between being cold or being around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco, which would you take?” pic.twitter.com/o0W9aUQCyI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 19, 2024
“You can’t even walk around down there,” Barkley continued. (RELATED: Homeless Pedophile Convicted After Posting Up Outside A San Fran School With Signs Offering Meth And ‘Free Fentanyl’)
“Yes you can!” Green exclaimed.
“Yeah, with a bullet proof vest and security,” Barkley concluded.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 18: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Western Conference All-Stars drives to the basket against the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the fourth quarter during the 2024 NBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on February 18, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 18: Tyrese Haliburton #0 of the Indiana Pacers and Eastern Conference All-Stars in action against the Western Conference All-Stars in the fourth quarter during the 2024 NBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on February 18, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
You can always count on Chuck to tell it how it is.
The biting rebuke of America’s most rapidly declining liberal bastion was, in-part, a well-crafted barb towards Draymond Green, who Barkley had been sparring with all throughout the night.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 18: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors and Western Conference All-Stars reacts in the second quarter against the Eastern Conference All-Stars during the 2024 NBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on February 18, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
The pair joked with each other incessantly in an alternate broadcast of the game, which was available on TruTV and HBO Max. Many fans claimed they enjoyed the so-called “Alt Cast” more than the game itself.
“Good luck in the Play-In.” – Charles Barkley
“Here, Chuck. Take my ring.” – Draymond Green
— BrickMuse (@BrickMuse) February 19, 2024
But there’s also a nugget of truth to Barkley’s blue city bash. San Francisco is experiencing a widespread homeless crisis. Theft is massively on the rise. The city has, quite literally, gone to shit.
While the city does appear to be rapidly declining, California’s liberal leaders do take pride in their efforts to clean it up … when the Chinese Communist Party is in town.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom faced harsh backlash after he shuffled the city’s homeless around and cleaned the streets up ahead of Chinese President Xi Jingping’s visit for December’s APEC summit.
One reporter succinctly summed up the absurdity of the situation, later asking Biden’s national security spokesman, “Is the president embarrassed that an American city needs to go through a total makeover to be presentable for his out-of-town guests?”
Maybe next time Barkley visits the city they’ll run a clean-up operation worthy of a foreign dictator and not just a regular old tax-paying American citizen.