NBA icon Charles Barkley has voiced strong criticism of his former network, CNN, particularly targeting its political programming. Barkley, who previously hosted a talk show on the network, described the current political shows as unproductive shouting matches that fail to offer meaningful insight.
On Michael Smerconish's SiriusXM radio show, Barkley lamented the format of many political programs, stating, "When I’m sitting there watching the night shows, I’m like, they have two Republicans on, two Democrats. They scream at each other for an hour, and I’m like, that’s just an hour of my life I can’t get back."
Barkley suggested that political polarization is exacerbated by a societal pressure to adopt partisan labels, advocating instead for an independent approach. "The problem is people are brainwashed into believing they need to pick a political label," he said. "I don’t agree with everything Democrats or Republicans do. Why would I just say I’m a Democrat? Everybody should be an independent. I mean, that makes zero sense."
He extended his critique to the network itself, declaring, "I hate CNN now." Barkley theorized that economic disparities fuel political division, suggesting that a "rich" class manipulates poorer segments of society into conflict. "The rich people — they’re smarter," Barkley commented. "They’re like, ’Let’s just make the poor people fight with each other.’ And the poor people, they’ll be like, ’You know, we’re actually in the same boat. We want economic opportunity. We live in crap neighborhoods. Our kids go to crap schools. We can’t afford to go to the big schools.’ But they’re like, ’No, let’s make them fight with each other."