Charles Barkley Says ‘It Pisses Me Off’ That People Are Defending Ja Morant’s Gun Videos: ‘Some Idiots, Some Fools, Some Jackasses’

Charles Barkley blasted Ja Morant and those defending him after the Memphis Grizzlies star waved a gun during an Instagram Live video for at least a second time since March.

During TNT’s pregame show before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat on Wednesday, Barkley addressed Monday’s incident. The video prompted the Grizzlies, who have been eliminated from the playoffs, to suspend Morant from all team activities. The suspension is being reviewed by the NBA.

Morant was widely condemned, but a handful of people questioned the suspension.

“Explain to me something,” Fox News host Will Cain tweeted, invoking the Second Amendment. “Does Ja Morant not have 2A rights? Can he not do what he wants outside of his work environment if it’s still legal? It may be stupid, but I don’t know what he’s done to be suspended.”

Barkley let loose on this kind of reaction, though he did not mention Cain or anyone else by name:

BARKLEY: We got some idiots, some fools, some jackasses on television. It really just pissed me off talking about, “Ja should make a stance and he didn’t break any laws. He didn’t do anything wrong. We’re in a state where you can carry a gun.” Those guys are just, are just freakin’ idiots…

It pisses me off when I hear guys say that. Yo, man. When you’re making $100 million a year [sic, Morant has an annual salary of $39 million and will make $194 million over five years] a year to play sports, your life changes. There are certain rules and regulations you have to live by, plain and simple. You can’t do stupid stuff. That’s the tradeoff.

Now, if you want to do all that stuff and give all that money back, more power to you. You can make that stance. “Know what? I want to do what I want to do. I want to flash my gun and make videos and do things.” Ok, that’s fine. But you can’t make money on the NBA doing this stuff.

I just hope that he grows up and realize like, yo, man, first of all, you’re not a thug. You’re not a criminal. You’re not a crook. You’re a guy making $100 million a year the dribble a stupid–

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL: Two hundred.

BARKLEY: Two hundred million to dribble a stupid basketball. And, you hit the lottery. We all hit the lottery to do something. There’s people out there working nine to five, 80 to 90 hours a week going to make $25,000 a year. They would kill to be in our situation!

Barkley went on to say, “It’s disappointing because the kid’s a great player.

A league investigation confirmed Morant waved a gun on Instagram Live in March. He was suspended and entered a counseling program, only to wave a gun on the social media platform two months later.

Watch above via TNT.