Charles Barkley is ‘Anti-Social Media’ to Stay Out of Trouble: ‘I’m Old-School… I Have to Respond’

Charles Barkley plans to retire from giving brash opinions on TV in two years, but don’t expect the basketball Hall-of-Famer to bring his hot takes to Twitter.

During a preview for an interview on TNT with Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, Barkley declared he is “anti-social media, I’ve never tweeted.”

“I understand there’s built-in animosity toward anybody who’s successful,” Barkley said. “When you’re a celebrity, people can say anything they want to you, but what you say to them can get you in trouble.”

Barkley is not wrong, many celebrities have been baited into trouble on Twitter and for a brutally honest 58-year-old known for unfiltered analysis, social media can represent a dangerous place. And it’s not just Twitter that he avoids, last week, Barkley even claimed he’s never sent an email. “I talk bad about people the old-fashioned way – behind their back. I don’t put it in writing,” Barkley said.

On the contrary, Durant is an avid Twitter user, following and responding to comments using his personal account and multiple burners.

“I’m an old-school Alabama dude,” Barkley said. “If somebody says something to me, I have to respond.”

Durant has and does respond to his fans and critics on social media, telling Barkley “I enjoy engaging with the fans. I used to take it personally. There was a point that I felt like people were trying to personally attack me through my social media.”

“I realized these people don’t know me at all,” Durant continued. “A lot of people are excited to have that interaction to somehow get some attention someway. But after a decade-plus of social media being around our game, it’s integrated in our sport and in our life now. So there’s no hiding from it.”

Watch above via TNT