Charles Barkley – Photo; Chensiyuan, via Wikimedia.
NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has criticized attempts by right-wingers to “cancel” corporations or individuals who seek to market to or show support for the LGBTQ community.
In the first video, Barkley encourages the crowd to drink Bud Light and expresses support for members of the LGBTQ community.
“I want to say this,” Barkley says. “I want y’all to drink this f*ck*g beer. I want y’all to drink this f*ck*g beer. I got three cases of Bud Light. Hey, and I want to say this. If you’re gay, bless you. If you’re transgender, bless you. And if you have a problem with that, f*ck you!”
“I’m gonna buy some drinks for y’all, and I’m gonna buy Bud Light,” Barkley says in a second video, which was shot the following evening. “Hey, and I’m gonna tell y’all something. All you rednecks or a**holes who don’t want to drink Bud Light, f**k y’all.”
“Y’all can cancel me. I ain’t worried about getting canceled because if yall fire me and give me all that money I’m going to be playing golf every f**king day.”
“So listen, as I said last night, if you’re gay, God bless you. If you’re trans, God bless you. And if you have a problem with them, f**k you.”
This is not the first time Barkley has stood with the LGBTQ community. In 2011 he spoke against bigotry during a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before a Celtics-Magic game.
“You know, people try to make it about black and white. He [Dr. King] talked about equality for every man, every woman. We have a thing going on now — people discriminating against homosexuality in this country.
“I love the homosexual people. God bless the gay people. They are great people.”
In 2013, he critiqued the prevalence of homophobia within the sports world in response to some players’ alleged discomfort around the idea of having LGBTQ teammates following NBA player Jason Collins coming out as gay. During an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, when asked if he’d ever played alongside gay teammates he responded: “Yeah, of course I did!”
“Everybody did. Everybody played with a gay teammate, Dan, and it’s no big deal,” he said.
“First of all, I think it’s an insult to gay people to think they’re trying to pick up on their teammates,” Barkley added. “But everybody’s played with a gay teammate.”
Barkley currently appears on Inside the NBA on TNT where he provides insights and analysis on games and basketball-related topics.
Gun rights groups are blasting the Trump administration after CNN reported that senior Justice Department officials have been discussing the possibility of restricting transgender U.S. citizens from owning firearms, following the recent mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis. Although officials described the talks as "preliminary," critics warn that even floating such a proposal scapegoats transgender people and threatens their constitutional rights.
The internal talks appeared to draw on a theory promoted by conservative influencers and media outlets: that transgender people are mentally ill, and that transition-related hormones negatively affect mental health, making them more prone to violence.
A new report published by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law finds that an estimated 2.8 million Americans aged 13 or older identify as transgender.
According to NBC News, that figure represents about 1% of the U.S. population within that age group. The breakdown is nearly even: 34.2% identify as transgender men, 32.7% as transgender women, and 33.1% as nonbinary.
One statistic drew particular attention on social media: younger Americans are far more likely to identify as transgender than older generations. About 3.3% of those ages 13-17 identify as transgender, compared to just 0.3% of those 65 and older.
Laura Loomer, the far-right influencer with close ties to President Donald Trump, claimed during a deposition in her defamation lawsuit against HBO that sources close to the former president told her U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is gay.
Loomer is suing the network over comments by comedian Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Maher, who joked that she had an affair with Trump. She alleges Maher's on-air remark about her "sleeping with Trump" -- echoing a rumor circulating at the time -- cost her a job in the Trump administration and the political influence that would have come with it. HBO has argued that Maher's comment is protected under the First Amendment, just as Loomer's own inflammatory remarks are shielded when she targets her political enemies.
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