Charles Barkley has made it very clear that he won’t be apologizing for his recent comments regarding Cardi B.
On Wednesday (June 11), two days after his body-focused quip about the rapper's halftime performance at the NBA Finals lit up social media, Barkley stopped by The Dan Patrick Show.
During the chat, he said he would "love" for ESPN to cut him loose over his comments because he's under contract for "six or seven years," and so a firing would result in a payout for him.
"I'm hoping they fire me," Barkey said. "I got six or seven years left on my contract that they know I've got no chance of doing. I would love for them to fire me and have to pay me for the next six or seven years."
He continued: "I was talking to my agent. I was like, 'What can I do to get fired, but they'd have to pay me for the whole six, seven years?' I would love to get fired, I’m not gon' lie … There's zero chance that I’mma be working the next six, seven years. Zero. So I know if they fired me, they'd have to pay me all of those years. And I heard through the grapevine that I make great money; so thank goodness for that."
Circling back to the way in which people take his on air comments, Barkley said: "But, yeah, c'mon man. People can’t take a joke. They can kiss my ass … Anybody [that] thinks everybody likes them, they a fool. So if people don't like me or don't have a sense of humor, they can kiss my ass. My whole ass, not just one cheek, the whole ass."
Chuck's original remark came during the Inside the NBA halftime segment of Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Monday (June 8). Cardi B had just finished performing during the break, in which she wore a plunging bustier alongside the Knicks City Dancers.
Barkley, sitting alongside Shaquille O'Neal, Draymond Green, and Kenny Smith, looked at the camera and said: "I don't know if those B's. Those might be Cardi D's. I'm pretty sure those aren't B's. She's got the wrong initials." Co-host Ernie Johnson immediately cut himself loose from the comment on-air, saying: "I don't know who said that, but I know it wasn't me."
The clip spread fast. A YouTube upload of the moment had cleared 1.7 million views within roughly 24 hours, according to Entertainment Weekly. Both Barkley's and Cardi B's names went on to trend simultaneously on X, where the rapper acknowledge the moment by sharing a post highlighting the dual trending.
Charles Barkley revealed back in 2024 that he had signed a 10-year, $210 million contract with TNT before Inside the NBA migrated to ESPN.
"There’s been a lot of numbers thrown around about my deal, which I always find fascinating," he said on the Dan Patrick Show (via Sports Illustrated). "But I’ve never told people exactly what my deal was. My deal is 10 years, $210 million."
