Charles Barkley, Fox News Trade Pre-Election Shots
TNT basketball analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley calls Fox News Channel "corrupt," Fox News dismisses Barkley as a "shill" for CNN
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/29/2008 1:00:00 AM
Former NBA star, current TNT basketball analyst and possible future Alabama gubernatorial candidate Charles Barkley says he is no fan of Fox News Channel.“I watch CNN, they’re not fucked up like Fox,” Barkley told B&C. “They are a mouthpiece for the Republican Party. I watch [Fox] a couple times when there is someone I want to see on there. But they’re corrupt."
When asked whether he is just shilling for his parent company (TNT and CNN are corporate cousins), Barkley denies that he has to stick up for his team.
“Hell no, I don’t,” he says. “I like Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper and John King. They at least try to give both sides.”
But Fox News Channel doesn’t see it that way, as a network spokesperson fired back immediately.
“It’s hardly a surprise that Charles is a shill for a Turner owned network.... He obviously needs the steady paycheck to pay off his consistent gambling debts,” the spokesperson told B&C.
Barkley in May said he was at least temporarily putting on hold a gambling habit that he once told ESPN has cost him about $10 million over the years. Earlier this year, a hotel in Las Vegas alleged that Barkley had failed to repay casino markers.
The longtime NBA star, who is now a colorful NBA analyst for TNT, is backing Barack Obama for President, and thinks he is going to win.
“I do, but it’s gonna be close,” he says.
For more of Barkley, including his views on Sarah Palin’s future television career and which problem in the television industry neither TNT nor CNN have “the balls” to deal with, read the Nov. 3 issue of Broadcasting & Cable, or log onto Broadcastingcable.com on Nov. 3.
