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While Gayle King typically lives on the “CBS Mornings” screen and Charles Barkley provides sports commentary on TNT, the two have agreed to come together on CNN late night.
CNN confirmed Saturday that King and Barkley will co-host “King Charles,” a weekly show on the cable news network that will air in fall 2023. The news was announced on TNT’s “NBA Tip-off,” describing the show as a “live, hour-long weekly discussion show.”
Chris Licht, the newly appointed conservative CEO of CNN, wrote he was “thrilled” to have King and Barkley join the network in an email to company colleagues obtained by USA TODAY.
Licht confirmed that King and Barkley will continue their current occupations while taking on the new show.
Charles Barkley’s quotes about Black people are wild
“One thing that frustrates me — and we are all Black athletes just for the record — because anytime something happens racially, they come to us. I’m pretty sure White reporters didn’t run up on Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, ‘What do you think?’ It’s a really unfair double standard,” Barkley once said on CBS 60 Minutes.
Remarking about police brutality to TIME, “There’s a lot of people at fault. The cops have made some mistakes; Black people have made some mistakes,” Barkley said. “We have to sit back and be honest with each other. The cops have made some mistakes—that don’t give us the right to riot and shoot cops. We need the cops, especially in the Black community. We as Black people, we’ve got to do better.”
“We as Black people are never going to be successful, not because of you White people, but because of other Black people. When you are Black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other Black people,” Barkley said.
“For some reason we are brainwashed to think, if you’re not a thug or an idiot, you’re not Black enough. If you go to school, make good grades, speak intelligent, and don’t break the law, you’re not a good Black person. It’s a dirty, dark secret in the Black community.”
“There are a lot of Black people who are unintelligent, who don’t have success. It’s best to knock a successful Black person down because they’re intelligent, they speak well, they do well in school, and they’re successful. It’s just typical BS that goes on when you’re Black, man.”
“I always look at these young Black kids and white kids who are playing together when we ain’t corrupted their minds, we ain’t made them racist, and I get chills,” Barkley said. “Why can’t the world be like these little kids? Why do we adults have to screw it up? We screw up everything.”
Gayle King interviews rub our culture the wrong way
Though an interviewer, Gayle King has poked and prodded Black interviewees, holding them to a level of accountability and critique far beyond professional journalistic standards.
While she’s previously admitted to it being “open season” for Black men and spoken about generational wealth, many recall her contentious 2018 interview with R. Kelly where she brazenly questioned his sincerity right before he devolved for all to see.
In 2020, both Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey faced criticism from Black entertainers who said their #MeToo coverage was biased against Black men.
Later in the year, she repeatedly questioned WNBA legend Lisa Leslie over Kobe Bryant’s 2003 sexual assault case.
Though the “King Charles” premier is slated for fall, disparaging comments and treatment towards their own people have already informed many Black viewers of what’s to fill CNN airwaves. Hard Pass.