It doesn't matter if he's employed by TNT or ESPN, Charles Barkley is going to air his opinions out whether people like it or not.
During an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show," Barkley brought up the controversial exchange involving Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and Jacksonville Free Press reporter Lynn Jones. After the Jaguars were eliminated from the playoffs, Jones praised Coen at his postgame press conference.
"I just want to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man," Jones said to Coen. "You hold your head up, alright? You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, okay? Ladies and gentlemen, Duval, you the one. Keep it going, we got another season, okay? Take care, and much continued success to you and the entire team."
Countless reporters called out Jones, claiming her actions were unprofessional. Barkley, however, didn't have any issue with it.
"Can I say Miami had a great year? don’t want all these [expletive] reporters and clowns talking bad about me like they did that lady in Jacksonville who had a moment of humanity," Barkley said, via OutKick. "Think about that, Dan. Jacksonville had a great year. They won four games last year. And we got so many punks on television and on radio now, because I don’t get into the social media stuff, but I started looking and it was a big story brewing. ‘Is this woman serious? She’s supposed to be a journalist.’Have we got to the point now where you just have to be an idiot or fool or [expletive] to be on television or podcast or something now."
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Patrick then asked Barkley how ESPN feels about him calling out reporters. The Hall of Famer's response was quite interesting to say the least.
"They can fire me," Barkley replied. "I got seven years on my contract. I’m 100 percent retired, but if I can do something just a little bit stupid so they have to fire me, they’ll have to pay me for the whole seven years."
Barkley isn't afraid to voice his opinion.
A month ago, Barkley called out the NFL for trying to take Christmas Day away from the NBA. He told Roger Goodell to "stay in his lane."
Some people, including David Samson, thought ESPN would discipline Barkley for publicly calling out the NFL.
“As you head into 2026, please try to remember the one sentence that all of us in sports need to say over and over like it’s our mantra,” Samson said. “The NFL is king and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. It doesn’t matter if players lose limbs on the field, it doesn’t matter if they lose their life on the field, or almost. It doesn’t matter if they’re concussed or they die young and they can’t count to 10 in their 40s or 50s. It doesn’t matter if there are more carts on the field than players carting people off each play. The NFL, Roger Goodell, they don’t care, because we don’t care.”
Judging by Barkley's recent remarks, he might just be untouchable.