Charles Barkley knows who is to blame for the USA hockey controversy.
The U.S. men and women both won gold at the Winter Olympics, each defeating Canada in overtime. The U.S. men won for the first time since the "Miracle on Ice" win in 1980. The heroic win was clinched by Jack Hughes, who scored in overtime.
But following the win, the U.S. male players were criticized. They were seen laughing at President Trump's joke about the women's team and later visited the White House and attended the State of the Union.
U.S. soccer legend Megan Rapinoe was among those to rip them.
"The United States men's hockey team, in their utter moment of glory … ruined it for themselves because they allowed themselves to be totally co-opted by a clown," Rapinoe said on A Touch More with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. "And now, you're a clown. You look like a clown."
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A lot of different people have been "blamed" for the controversy, from President Trump to FBI Director Kash Patel to USA Hockey leaders to the team's captain, Auston Matthews.
But Barkley knows who to blame.
The legendary NBA star is blaming "sensitive" sports fans for taking things too seriously and looking for reasons to be upset.
"I’m proud of the United States men. I’m proud of the United States women. You should have invited both of them to the White House, but it shouldn’t have been disrespect, misogyny," Barkley said on the "Steam Room" podcast. "Like, yo, man, why do y’all have to mess everything up? Everything isn’t Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal. That’s why we got this divided, screwed up country. Stop it man. Because, you know, the public, they’re idiots. They’re fools. They can’t think for themselves. I know y’all say stuff to trigger them. Y’all say stuff and y’all know they’re going to be fools."
Barkley is tired of people getting riled up over nothing.
"We don’t have to fall for stupidity. But we do – that’s my point. These people out here are stupid. They need something to trigger them. Just because they want us to be stupid. We don’t have to be stupid. He should have invited both teams to the White House. Simple as that. Guys who didn’t want to go shouldn’t have to explain why they didn’t go."