Scottie Pippen Attacks Charles Barkley for Threatening to Murder Him: He Never Fought a ‘Black Man Unless There Were Referees’

Photo by DAN LEVINE/AFP via Getty Images

There’s a reason Scottie Pippen lasted just one season with the Houston Rockets. He hated Charles Barkley. And 22 years later, the hate hasn’t subsided, with Pippen questioning Barkley’s toughness during a recent interview with Tyler Tynes of GQ.

After the Rockets were knocked out in the first round of the 1999 NBA Playoffs, Pippen demanded a trade and he eventually got his wish. It triggered a long and public feud between the two NBA stars, with Barkley claiming he wanted an apology from Pippen for ditching the Rockets after just one season.

Pippen fired back, saying he wouldn’t give Barkley an apology at gunpoint, and “if anything, he owes me an apology for coming to play with his sorry fat butt.”

“As you know, I always carry a gun with me,” Barkley joked in response to Pippen. “So there’s a chance. If I get arrested for murder then you know he didn’t apologize.”

Twenty-two years later, Pippen is still talking about the dispute with his ex-Rockets teammate, telling GQ he never apologized to the hall-of-fame basketball player and current media star on TNT.

“I wish he woulda went through with it,” Pippen said of Barkley’s threat. “I never apologized to him, but I’ll tell you what: He only got arrested for throwing some little White guys out of a window. I ain’t never seen him fight a Black man unless there were referees around. He plays his role like he’s tough. I don’t know nobody he done whooped. Go back and check his record. Did I apologize to him? I told him to get me the hell out of there. That’s what I recall.”

It seems time hasn’t healed the wound between Pippen and Barkley. And evidently, no threat from Barkley’s portrayal of toughness will convince Pippen that an apology is necessary.

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