Charles Barkley once refused to apologize for his offensive comments on San Antonio women: "That's not going to happen"

Charles Barkley is no stranger to controversy. His long-running joke on the women of San Antonio is one of the prime examples of that. Moreover, Barkley's also not afraid of the 'cancel' culture and once made that clear on-air, refusing to apologize for his comments on the women of San Antonio:

"I'm not going to change. If you don't like me or the show, turn it off. And they want me to apologize. That's not going to happen. Me joking about those big old women down in San Antonio.

"Listen, y'all can write letters to your mama, your daddy, you uncle. I'm going to have fun on television. You know that I'm joking around. But if y'all waiting on me to apologize, hell gonna freeze."

“If you crack a joke the wrong way,” Barkley said, “they’re like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, you crossed the line.’ I mean, they won’t even let me talk about San Antonio anymore when I’m always talking about their big ole women down in San Antonio. They’re like, ‘Charles, we got one lady [who] wrote an article.’

“I’m like, 'First of all, I didn’t call anybody personally fat in San Antonio; I was just joking around. … We’ve been having fun with this for probably 10–15 years"

Charles Barkley hasn't cracked that joke since. He also said the people of San Antonio had fun with it, and he wasn't a fan of how TNT couldn't back him up.

Charles Barkley didn't mind getting fired by TNT

Charles Barkley seemed to have made up his mind that he would leave TNT and stop working by 60. With that in his mind, Barkley even said that TNT should fire him if they couldn't back him up on his jokes.

“You can’t even have fun nowadays without these characters trying to get you canceled and things like that," said Barkley.

"I’m trying to hang on for another couple of years until I’m 60 and then they can kiss my ass. I’m only working until 60. I’ve already told them that. I’m not working until the day I die. That’s just stupid. And if I don’t have enough money by now, I’m an idiot, anyway. They should fire me, anyway."

Barkley eventually made a U-turn on his claim. He signed a lucrative 10-year $100 million contract with the company. The NBA legend had to make peace with not bringing the women of San Antonio into his jokes anymore.