Charles Barkley Says He’ll PUNCH Black People For Wearing Trump’s Mugshot Shirt

Charles Barkley insisted he wasn’t kidding when he threatened violence against any Black person he sees wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the mugshot of former President Donald Trump.

The unhinged remark came during a live appearance on his weekly “King Charles” show on CNN, which has bled massive viewership numbers since its debut earlier this year. Barkley, who regularly espouses anti-Trump views in public, said he would punch any Black person he sees wearing a Trump mugshot t-shirt given the disrespect he claims it shows for the Black community.

“First of all, I’m just going to say this,” Barkley sighed. “If I see a Black person walking around with a Trump mugshot I’mma punch ’em in the face.”

“Charles!” co-host Gayle King interjects. “You really can’t say that because A, you don’t mean that. And then you will be arrested for assault, and then what?”

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“Imma bail myself out and go celebrate,” he replied as the studio crowd laughed heartily.

“Don’t encourage him!” King waves to the audience.

“If I was at that conference, I’d have got up and walked out,” Barkley continues, referencing an earlier clip showing Trump speaking at the Black Conservatives Foundation where he proclaimed his support among Black Americans is growing in part due to his ongoing criminal trials.

“That was an insult to all Black people, because he’s basically just saying – and first of all, to compare Black history and we’ve been discriminated against to his plight. Well, first of all he’s a billionaire, and they’re prosecuting him for stuff he did wrong.”

“It’s still in the court system, Charles, we have to wait,” King reminds him.

While Trump’s appeals to Black Americans may frustrate Charles, it can’t be denied that his appeal is expanding. Polls report that Black voters are fleeing President Joe Biden in droves while supporting Trump’s third campaign for the White House at the highest rate for any Republican candidate since the Civil Rights era. The support was palpable during the arraignment of his Georgia trial where throngs of Black voters lined Trump’s motorcade route, waving signs and telling reporters they sympathize with his persecution by a justice system they feel is two-tiered.

Other prominent Black celebrities from hip-hop stars to sports commentator Stephen A. Smith have said Trump’s appeal is undeniable and that Democrats are kidding themselves if they think the courts are going to prevent him from getting to the November election. That prediction proved even more prescient on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled no state can disqualify the Republican from 2024 ballots by declaring him an “insurrectionist.”