Charles Barkley is on a strict diet to cut out the joking about overweight women.
The former NBA great had a running gag on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” about the “big ol’ women down in San Antonio” until a local news article called him out on it.
“They won’t even let me talk about San Antonio anymore,” Barkley said Monday on the “Grant & Danny Show.” (Hear the clip below.)
“They’re like, ‘Charles, we got one lady wrote an article.’ I’m like, ‘First of all, I didn’t call anybody personally fat in San Antonio. I was just joking around and when this one lady wrote this article ...’ We’ve been having fun with this for probably 10, 15 years!”
Barkley, who has been open about his own body struggles and was dubbed the “Round Mound of Rebound” in his NBA playing days, said people in San Antonio have enjoyed the routine.
He blamed “jackasses” for its demise. “You can’t even have fun nowadays without these jackasses trying to get you canceled and things like that.”
The Basketball Hall of Famer, 58, said he’s looking forward to retirement anyway. “I’m trying to hang on for another couple of years until I’m 60 and then they can kiss my ass,” he said, per Sports Illustrated.
Sexist jabs are part of the outspoken commentator’s schtick. Earlier this year Barkley bashed Georgia women, saying the University of Georgia Bulldogs sports teams were named “after the women down there.”