‘Guns Are Evil!’ Charles Barkley Tells CNN’s Chris Wallace He Will Always Speak Out and ‘Tell the Truth’ on Gun Violence

NBA legend and soon-to-be CNN host Charles Barkley told CNN anchor Chris Wallace that “guns are evil” and said he’d never stop short of “telling the truth” on the air about issues like gun violence.

Wallace interviewed Barkley for this week’s edition of his Max series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace  — which now streams exclusively on Max, and is no longer airing a weekly highlights version on CNN. Barkley will co-host the limited series King Charles with Gayle King for CNN later this year.

In their wide-ranging interview, Wallace played a clip of Barkley ripping Ja Morant over his gun videos, and asked him where he draws the line for issues he’ll talk about on the air:

WALLACE: You are known for blunt opinions. We just heard some you’re also known for blunt opinions about the NBA. (Yes.) Here you are on TNT, talking about a young superstar, Ja Morant, who has been suspended for flashing a gun, take a look.

[CLIP]

WALLACE: Where do you draw the line? In terms of saying what you think on the air?

BARKLEY: Well, you got to be honest on air. First of all, as much crime as we have in the Black community, guns are evil. They have no — black on black crime as an epidemic. You know, It is so funny you asked that question because I just thought about something. You know how long we’ve been talking about black on black crime and crime in our neighborhoods? Like not before, even before I got on television now, it’s a full blown epidemic.

And for Ja Morant, who’s a great player to be on Instagram flashing guns, he’s had four or five gun incidents. He’s caught with a gun, he gets suspended, and then less than two months later, he gets, he films himself again on Instagram with a gun and you’re like, kid can’t be that stupid. Kid’s getting paid close to 100 million dollars.

And the only thing you have to do is don’t be a fool. Just play basketball. Ain‘t like it’s a real job. We’re not like teachers. We’re not like firemen. We’re not like policemen. We’re not somebody who’s in the service. We’re not a doctor. Those are five real jobs, real jobs, who people who will never make a lot of money.

And all you have to do a dribble of stupid basketball, and stay out of trouble. And you’re like, are you serious? Are we really having this conversation? So but I’m gonna do my job. I promise you that. Because people, you lose credibility when you get on television and don’t tell the truth.

Watch above via Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace.