Charles Barkley has been catching heat because of the comments he made regarding the Breonna Taylor decision. He stated that her murder differed from the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery because her boyfriend shot at police.
“It’s just bad the young lady lost her life, but we do have to take into account that her boyfriend did shoot at the cops and shot a cop,” he said. “So, like I said, even though I’m really sorry she lost her life, I don’t think we can just put this in the same situation as George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.”
Shaq then chimed in and agreed with Barkley’s statements. “I have to agree with Charles, this one is sort of lumped in,” Shaq said. “You have to get a warrant signed and some states do allow no-knock warrants. And everyone was asking for murder charges. When you talk about murder, you have to show intent. A homicide occurred and we’re sorry a homicide occurred. When you have a warrant signed by the judge, you are doing your job, and I would imagine that you would fire back.”
Charles’ sentiments did not stop there. He went on to say how he disagrees with the plan to defund the police and thinks that police reform needs to happen instead. “I hear these fools on TV talk about ‘defund the police,’ we need police reform and prison reform and things like that because you know who ain’t gonna defund the cops, white neighborhoods, and rich neighborhoods,” Barkley said. He went on to add, “So that notion that they keep saying that, I’m like wait a minute who are Black people supposed to call? Ghostbusters? We need police reform.”
Barkley and Shaq took a lot of heat on social media for their comments.
