News/Commentary

Charles Barkley a bit too honest with All-Star shocker about ‘homeless crooks’ in San Francisco

February 19, 2024 | | Print Article

Charles Barkley may have been looking ahead, but he certainly wasn’t looking forward to a future West Coast trip as he slammed one city filled with “homeless crooks” during a live broadcast.

The former MVP basketballer turned broadcaster has a reputation of speaking his mind and Sunday’s coverage of the NBA All-Star game was no different from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Hosted by Taylor Rooks, Barkley was joined by Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green during TNT’s ALTCAST coverage of the annual competition. It was during a moment of shared coverage with the play-by-play duo of Brian Anderson and Hall of Fame Indiana Pacers shooting guard Reggie Miller that Sir Charles spat on next year’s host city, San Francisco, California.

“Hey, Reggie, we love you,” said Green. “Let’s not have another All-Star in Indiana. Let’s let this be the last one, my friend.”

The gripe over the weather prompted Barkley to bring up the rampant homeless crisis in the Golden State as he asked, “Hey, Reggie. If you had a chance of being cold or being around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco, which would you take?”

Amid the banter, the 11-time All-Star added, “You can’t even walk around down there.”

Green attempted to defend his home turf as the Warriors’ Chase Center was slated to be the 2025 venue and said, “Yes, you can walk around,” to which Barkley simply replied, “Yeah, with a bulletproof vest.”

Sunday’s slight against the city, where shoplifting has forced stores to lock up their goods or close entirely, was not the first for the outspoken broadcaster who had spoken up about the problem during Game 4 of the 2022 playoff series between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks.

While a rainstorm in the DFW-area had delayed the game because of a roof leak at the American Airlines Center, Barkley saw an opportunity to rip on the filth in California.

“You know the bad thing about all this rain?” questioned the player rhetorically. “It’s not raining in San Francisco to clean up those dirty-a** streets they got there.”

As former journeyman center Shaquille O’Neal laughed and said, “Say it again, Chuck,” the broadcaster obligingly continued, “San Francisco, it’s a great city, but all that dirtiness and homelessness, y’all, man, y’all gotta clean that off the streets.”

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Even billionaire Elon Musk, who has so far refused to relocate the headquarters of his social media platform X from the City by the Bay, couldn’t help but agree with the readily observable fact.

“He’s not wrong,” wrote the tech entrepreneur.

Not only did others strongly agree with Barkley’s assessment about the city that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Mayor London Breed (D) had seen straightened up for the sake of a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, they shared visuals to support the stance.

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Kevin Haggerty
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