Charles Barkley Agrees With The Zimmerman Verdict [Video]
Former NBA star Charles Barkley said today he agrees with the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict that was rendered last Saturday night by the six-member, all-female jury in Sanford, Fla.
In an appearance on CNBC’s Closing Bell this afternoon, the NBA Hall of Famer told Maria Bartiromo that “I agreed with the verdict. I feel sorry that young kid got killed. But they didn’t have enough evidence to charge [Zimmerman].”
Barkley asserted his belief that Zimmerman was racial profiling the night of February 26, 2012 when Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, but that “… I think Trayvon Martin, God rest his soul, I think he did flip the switch and start beating the hell out of Mr. Zimmerman. But it was just a bad situation.”
The TNT Network NBA television commentator who played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, and the Houston Rockets lamented the fact that the Zimmerman case gave a license for racists to come out of the woodwork. “It gives every white person and black person who is racist a platform to vent their ignorance. You know, that’s the thing that bothers me the most because I watched this trial closely. And I watched all these people are television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. You know, they want their racist views, whether they are white or black… the bias — it definitely comes out.”
Sir Charles also called out the news media for the tone of the coverage of the Zimmerman trial. “I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media, because I don’t think media has a pure heart… and I don’t like it when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands… and like I say, I’m sorry that young kid got killed but just judging by the evidence, I don’t think that guy should have went to jail the rest of his life. But something happened bad that night, obviously.”
Last night, Larry Elder blasted CNN’s Piers Morgan for sensationalizing the Zimmerman media coverage and thereby inflaming racial tensions.
Do you agree or disagree with Charles Barley’s assessment (see embed above) of the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman fatal confrontation and the trial verdict?
