The basketball legend sat down today with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, who asked him for his opinion on the Zimmerman trial verdict. Here’s what he had to say:
Sir Charles #Barkley to @MariaBartiromo: Just looking at the evidence, I agree with the [#Zimmerman] verdict.
— CNBC's Closing Bell (@CNBCClosingBell) July 18, 2013
Barkley agrees with the Trayvon Martin verdict. Says Trayvon "flipped the switch" and started "beating the hell out of Mr. Zimmerman"
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/CharlesJB12/status/357944380151181312
Transcript:
That’s probably not a popular opinion among most people. But just looking at the evidence, I agreed with the verdict. I just feel bad, because I don’t like when race gets out in the media because I don’t think the media has a pure heart, as I call it. There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape, form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist, and I don’t like when it gets out there in the media, because I don’t think the media has clean hands … And, like I said, I feel sorry that young kid got killed, but just judging by the evidence, I don’t think that guy should have [gone] to jail for the rest of his life. Because something happened bad that night, obviously. And I’ll tell you, Mr. Zimmerman was … racially profiling, but I think Trayvon Martin — God rest his soul — I think he did flip the switch and started beating the hell out of Mr. Zimmerman. But it was just a bad situation. Like I said, the main thing I feel bad for, it gives every white person and black person who’s racist a platform to vent their ignorance, you know. That’s the thing that bothers me the most. Because I watched the trial closely, and I watch all these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda, you know. They want to have their racist views, whether they’re white or black. The bias, it definitely comes out. It was a bad situation. We all lost, and I feel bad for his parents. You never want to see anybody lose their kid.
Barkley’s response did garner plenty of nastiness:
Charles Barkley suddenly became the patron Uncle Tom for his ignorant comments. Stick to basketball Chuck you fail at real life situations
— 『E E Y O R E – E Y E S O R E』 (@brittmoore) July 18, 2013
Charles Barkley is the laughing stock of the sports world….dumb as shit and well trained by his slave masters
— Jeff Gauvin (@JeffersonObama) July 18, 2013
Since when have any of u given a shit what comes out of Charles Barkley's mouth? Now that he's for Zimmerman he matters? #fuckbarkley
— 『E E Y O R E – E Y E S O R E』 (@brittmoore) July 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/rose_2145/status/357945907666366464
Charles Barkley is the modern day Uncle Tom and he just made every virulent Klan and hate group in America cheer.
— Jeff Gauvin (@JeffersonObama) July 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/BillLambeerMask/status/357943988369629184
https://twitter.com/REESEELambert/status/357946781444751360
https://twitter.com/REESEELambert/status/357950651445157888
https://twitter.com/REESEELambert/status/357950967699865601
https://twitter.com/REESEELambert/status/357951464607457280
But many others appreciated Sir Charles’ carefully considered, sensible remarks and his refusal to play into the media’s race-baiting hands:
https://twitter.com/BrianAdamJones/status/357943766444814336
Charles Barkley being extremely neutral and diplomatic on Zimmerman verdict. Pointing to evidence. "I agree with the verdict."
— Sam Ro ? (@SamRo) July 18, 2013
I am such a huge Charles Barkley fan right now. He's a hero on this. Unlike @BarackObama #Trayvon #Zimmerman #tcot #p2 #gop
— Simon Templar (@SimonTemplarPV) July 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/Getztowondering/status/357944192976166912
Barkley is honest man. Have to respect his take on the #Zimmerman case and on racism.
— Rich G (@24kt_GLD) July 18, 2013
Hear, hear. The loudest race-obsessed political mouths would do well to take a lesson from him:
https://twitter.com/crazybobo/status/357944258260508672
https://twitter.com/JonathanMcNabb/status/357944685710413825
https://twitter.com/michi83/status/357955691471835137
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