FOX broadcaster Skip Bayless and NBA analyst Charles Barkley are two of the most prominent names in all of sports media.
Sadly, there is no love lost between them.
Barkley has spoken out on multiple occasions about how much he despises Bayless and his brand of commentary.
“There are only two people I want to kill: Skip Bayless and Jay Mariotti,” Barkley said in 2005. “Everybody else, I respect their opinions. But those two guys.”
In 2017, Barkley went on "The Dan Patrick Show" and took it a step further. He outlined specific terms on when and how he’d off Bayless.
“You know what we should do for ratings? If I get a disease and I’m gonna die, how about you get Skip Bayless in here, and I’ll kill him live on national television, Only when I know I’ma die. … Because I just want to get Skip Bayless in a room one time and just beat him like a dog.”
Well, it appears Bayless is over it. This week, he opted to address the situation with Barkley head on.
“I’m sick and tired of Charles Barkley blasting me for criticizing LeBron James,” he said. “…it’s been going on for 15 years… For years [Charles] has said he’d like to kill me. I’ve kept my mouth shut, but I’ve finally said, ‘that’s enough.’”
Bayless then added that he is genuinely confused by this beef.
“This 15-year onslaught has amazed me, it has amused me, but it has always confounded me because for the life of me, I have no idea why exactly Charles wants to [hurt] me. … I don’t know Charles Barkley,” he said. “I’ve never had a single conversation with Charles Barkley.”
That said, Bayless feels like he knows the true cause of the issues between him and Barkley.
“This is just me, but I suspect that Charles is just jealous of me,” he said. “I suspect that he watches me nearly every day on TV, and the things I say p--s him off because in the end, he wishes he had thought of that and that he could say that on TV.”
Whether you love him or hate him, Bayless is one of the biggest stars in all of sports media. Bayless just carries that sort of sway.
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