Charles Barkley Blasts Alabamians for Booing Trump’s Plea to Get Vaccinated: ‘The Ultimate Hypocrisy and Stupidity’

As the vaccination rate in Alabama drastically trails most of the country, Charles Barkley is stepping up to try and convince people from his hometown state to get the jab.

The NBA Hall-of-Famer and superstar analyst for Turner Sports recorded PSA’s preaching the importance of taking Covid seriously and he’ll be headlining a vaccine rally in Birmingham this weekend. Ahead of the event, Barkley gave a very blunt assessment regarding Alabama’s brutal vaccination rate.

“Nobody likes being told what to do, but this is a little bit different,” Barkley told Ben Flanagan of AL.com. “We’re trying to get them to take care of themselves first and foremost, but also protect the other people around you.”

“These politicians have just done such an awful job of telling us what to do,” Barkley ranted. “I actually saw when President Trump was there this weekend – and Alabama’s a Trump stronghold – and they booed him for telling people to take the vaccine. I mean, if that’s not the ultimate hypocrisy and stupidity, I just don’t know what is.”

“I believe totally in your freedoms, I do,” Trump said over the weekend. “You got to do what you have to do, but I recommend take the vaccines. I did it, it’s good. Take the vaccines,” he added, prompting boos from the crowd.

While 52.1 percent of the entire country is fully vaccinated and some states are near 70 percent, Alabama sits at a dangerous 36.6 percent.

“This thing ain’t just about you as an individual,” Barkley continued on the Outbreak Alabama: Stories from a Pandemic podcast. “People come up to me all the time, want to get an autograph and take a picture. I don’t know if I would ever forgive myself if I got somebody’s kid sick or some adult sick. That’s why I think you should take the vaccination.”

Listen Above via Outbreak Alabama: Stories from a Pandemic