When Charles Barkley spoke for gay athletes being unfairly targeted by media: "Man, we need to outlaw guys who suck at sports”

Charles Barkley is one of the most outspoken former athletes. During his fantastic NBA career, the forward had no problem sharing his thoughts regarding certain subjects, even if they were sensitive, and that has stayed the same since his retirement.

In 2011, Barkley appeared in a radio interview with The Washington Post. During the interview, he talked about gay athletes and their place in the locker room. The former NBA All-Star claimed that gay players pose no problem.

"Man, we need to outlaw guys who suck at sports," Barkley said in the interview. "I’d rather have a gay guy who can play than a straight guy who can’t play."

Barkley has always been frank with his comments. Considering that he's very open-minded, it's not surprising that he expressed his support for gay athletes.

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Charles Barkley believes that gay athletes are not a problem

Back in 2014, Jason Collins came out as gay and became the first publicly gay athlete to play in the NBA. Collins played for the Brooklyn Nets, along with Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson and several other popular players.

At the time, Collins was in the late stages of his career, and this ended up being his last season in the league. However, the 7-footer received nothing but support from his teammates and other players in the league.

Jason Collins came out as gay in February 2014 (Image via Getty Images)

Many high-profile NBA players publicly supported Collins, including Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash. However, there is a belief that basketball players are mostly homophobic and that they wouldn't accept a gay player, which is something Charles Barkley strongly disagrees with.

"I really like ESPN," Barkley said in the radio interview. "They do a great job. But like once every two or three months, they bring all these people on there, and they tell me how me and my team are going to respond to a gay guy."

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Sexual orientation doesn't matter to Barkley. As long as his teammates work hard and want to win, that's all that's important.

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Barkley believes that every player has played with gay teammates

The basketball legend also claimed that every player has played with gay teammates at some point. According to him, this isn't just the case in professional leagues but also in college.

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Barkley has no problem with someone's sexual orientation (Image via Getty Images)

"Any professional athlete who gets on TV or radio and says he never played with a gay guy is a stone-freakin’ idiot," Barkley added in his interview.

The Philadelphia 76ers legend also admitted that he supported same-sex marriage. He also added that, as a Black person, he could not support any type of discrimination.