Charles Barkley Will NOT Join LIV Golf After All: ‘I’m Staying With Turner For the Rest of My TV Career’

Charles Barkley has ended talks with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, and will instead stay with TNT, he said in an interview with the New York Post Friday morning.

Barkley told the Post, “I want to thank Greg Norman and LIV for their interest in me…but, in my best interest, and being fair to Turner — because Turner and basketball have given me every single thing in my life. It is best for me to move on and I’m staying with Turner for the rest of my TV career.”

Previously, Barkley revealed to The Next Round podcast that he was considering joining the league, which has been widely criticized for being financially backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Barkley stirred up controversy with his defense of golfers that joined the tour, first saying he’d “kill a relative” for how much money they’re making, and later that rather than worry about Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, critics of LIV should worry about, “civil rights here in the United States.”

Just his considering leaving TNT for LIV sparked a raft of commentary.

Barkley’s views on Saudi Arabia have apparently not changed. When asked by the Post about how LIV’s Saudi ties impacted his decision, Barkley said, “that had nothing to do with it.”

Despite not joining the tour though, he doubled down on his defense of LIV and the Saudis in the Post interview. “I don’t like those words – ‘sports washing’ and ‘blood money.’ I don’t like those words at all because every country, including the United States, have stuff going on that they need to improve upon.”

Barkley will make $10 million a year from TNT for the next three years, but he told the Post that, “I have not talked to Turner,” about a potential contract extension.