AP Photo/John Locher
The truth matters, at least it appears to with Charles Barkley. The basketball legend is once again speaking out, this time about the police shooting of Breonna Taylor. While essentially everyone else in the sports community is afraid to say anything that deviates one millimeter from the Black Lives Matter narrative, Barkley appears to know some of the details leading up to Taylor’s death and isn’t afraid to share his thoughts.
On Thursday night during the TNT pregame show for game four of the Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, Barkley told Shaquille O’Neal that he does not consider the death of Breonna Taylor to be in the same vein as other high-profile shootings.
“I don’t think this one was like George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery and things like that,” said Barkley. “I feel sad that this young lady lost her life. I think … the no-knock warrant is something we need to get rid of … across the board. But I am worried to lump all these situations in together.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first African American attorney general in the commonwealth’s history, announced earlier this week that all three officers have been cleared following an investigation into the police shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor back in March.
Turns out the detectives had good reason to suspect Taylor and her boyfriend were involved in the drug business and were able to obtain a warrant to search Taylor’s apartment. After the police knocked on the door and announced their entry, Taylor’s boyfriend began shooting at the officers, striking one officer in the leg. The police returned fire and Taylor was shot and killed in the gun battle.
Sad that a young woman lost her life, but her boyfriend didn’t seem to care about her life when he began firing his weapon at police officers.
“And I just feel bad that the young lady lost her life,” Barkley continued. “But we do have to take into account that her boyfriend shot at the cops and shot a cop. So like I say, even though I am really sorry she lost her life, I just don’t think we can put this in the same situation as George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery.”
Shaquille O’Neal agreed with Barkley’s assessment.
Shaq, Barkley, Burgess Owens – maybe we just shouldn’t listen to professional athletes until they retire. Such a policy would weed out failing athletes who turn to rack huckstering as soon as their careers start heading south, like Colin Kaepernick.
Barkley was immediately met with backlash on social media for his comments. But it’s not the first time the sports legend has ticked off the left, so I doubt he’ll start backtracking now.
Written by Bronson Stocking for TownHall ~ September 25, 2020