Skip Bayless and Charles Barkley are two of the biggest personalities in all of NBA media. Both men have extremely strong opinions on just about everything, and neither ever backs down from a fight.
Unsurprisingly, they also happen to dislike each other.
Over the years, Barkley has made a number of incendiary comments about Bayless. Specifically, he has often joked about taking Bayless’ life.
One person who has taken issue with that? Bayless wife, Ernestine, who is something of a viral celeb in her own right.
This week, Bayless spoke openly regarding how Ernestine feels about Barkley and his comments towards her beau.
“My wife, Ernestine, has believed for 15 years that Charles Barkley is nothing but a sick individual,” Bayless said.
“[She believes] That to her he is just pure evil. That he is depraved. That he is a scumbag. And she believes or fears that one day Charles will somehow, maybe unwittingly or maybe wittingly, inspire some other nut to end my life. And this haunts her.
“This hurts her because she believes that in the end, Charles Barkley would have my blood on his hands. And if that were Charles’s goal from the start, if that was his goal, then I congratulate him because he wins on this one. He has hurt my wife deeply, and she has lost much sleep over this.”
This led to a simple request from Bayless.
“I said look I don’t care about any of the other criticism he can rip, he can slash, he can say whatever he wants,” the Fox Sports broadcaster continued. “Just for Ernestine’s sake could he please stop using the k-word, please no more kill.
“I warned her this will probably just fuel his fire, and I was right about that because after the request was made by John Wildhack to David Levy, it seemed to my ear that Charles only intensified his use of the k-word when talking about me.”
This is certainly a convoluted, ugly situation. On one hand, repeatedly talking about killing someone isn’t great. Especially if they’re genuinely scared or disturbed regarding it.
On the other hand, Bayless is a troll. He has trolled everyone from LeBron James to Kevin Durant to Damian Lillard.
Heck, Russell Westbrook’s wife Nina just pleaded with Bayless to stop mocking her husband – and he promptly rejected the request.
Yikes. https://t.co/GUcayMfHWf
— Game 7 (@game7__) March 14, 2022
So while his points about threats to his physical health are valid, he certainly doesn’t seem to be taking folks’ mental health into account.
In the end, Bayless and Barkley clearly hate each other. And it doesn’t look like this beef will die out any time soon.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
