Charles Barkley Apologizes After Threatening To Hit Female Reporter — WTF, Chuck?!

B.D.

One of the greatest NBA players of all time is in the middle of a completely avoidable controversy this week after he threatened physical violence against a female political reporter at an Atlanta-area bar.

Charles Barkley officially apologized in a statement released by his employer, broadcast company Turner Sports, on Wednesday, not even 24 hours after Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond came forward to reveal that the former basketball star threatened to hit her while the two were talking at the bar yesterday evening.

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The entire controversy began late Tuesday night, when McCammond — who was in Atlanta working ahead of Wednesday night’s Democratic debate held in the southern city — tweeted she had run across Barkley at a bar in town.

During an off-the-record conversation, according to the young reporter, she asked the former pro athlete who he was supporting for President during this election cycle.

According to McCammond, the threats came after Barkley initially began to talk up former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, before suddenly shifting to support of candidate Pete Buttigieg once in the presence of his campaign aides. When the Axios journo pointed out Chuck’s back-and-forth, she tweeted (below) that he allegedly threatened her for it, saying:

“I don’t hit women but if I did I would hit you.”

Wha??

WTF?!

First off, and by far the most important thing here… why would Barkley ever think it’s OK to joke about hitting a woman?? Not even a little bit acceptable, man! And beyond that, this is what set him off??

So basically, Chuck told a reporter one thing, then immediately said something else, then got mad when he was called on his own bulls**t?! Come on, Chuck. You’re a funny guy on NBA on TNT, but this is clownish behavior — and completely unacceptable.

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Thankfully, Barkley at least (briefly) took the high road in response, delivering an official apology (below):

“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.”

We’d have all been better off if, ya know, he had never actually threatened to hit a woman in the first place, but at least he realizes now that it was wrong. Baby steps, we suppose?

But wait… there’s more…

At this point in the story, we leave Barkley behind — but McCammond (regrettably) takes center stage.

Hours after reporting out the unfortunate incident late last night, the political pundit returned to Twitter to reinforce why it was newsworthy, and why she’d rather not have been part of the story at all, tweeting (below):

Well said!

McCammond also tweeted again later on Wednesday morning in response to Barkley’s official apology, as well:

And from there, social media blew up around her.

With some users keen on defending the former NBA star, McCammond revealed she had received various downright horrifying messages from men threatening more physical violence against her, as you can see (below):

Ugh. Absolutely despicable!!!

And unfortunately, it’s just another reminder of how violent a place the internet can be for high-profile professional women in this day and age. Disgusting!

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McCammond herself wasn’t immune to the fallout from this situation, either. As she reported out the Barkley incident, social media users swarmed her years-old tweets and found a variety of off-color messages, calling her out and eventually forcing her to apologize later on Wednesday.

You can see that play out (below):

Oh, no…

The reporter’s own (now-deleted) tweets became the subject of her subsequent apology, released on Wednesday evening:

Not great.

Obviously, it doesn’t magically absolve Charles Barkley, nor does it make it OK for other men to email and tweet her threats of violence. But man, what a weird twist at the end of what was already going to be a bizarre story.

Without a doubt, there’s a lot to take in here.

Reactions, Perezcious readers?! What did U think of Chuck’s attempt at a joke?! What about the twist of the reporter’s old tweets, too?? Sound OFF with all your reactions and more in the comments (below)…

[Image via Adriana M. Barraza/WENN/Twitter]

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