"Nothing Charles has ever said about me has bothered me to the point of losing sleep" - Skip Bayless reacts to Charles Barkley’s criticism, says he has never met Barkley

Famous sports analyst Skip Bayless went on a rant on his new platform, "The Skip Bayless Show," to confront TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley for threatening to kill him. Barkley, a Hall of Fame basketball player, has repeatedly mentioned on national television that he would like to end Bayless' life and that he hates the man.

Bayless gave examples from "The Jay Leno Show" and the "Late Show with David Letterman," of Barkley, as a guest, talking about the desire to kill him. It appeared as a joke to the audience and viewers, but Bayless believes otherwise.

"Charles Barkley would often do those shows, and numerous times he said on those national TV shows that he'd like to kill me, straight-faced," Bayless said. "And, of course, the hosts – Leno and Letterman – laughed, because we all know Charles can be naturally very funny. But if you look at the clips, Charles' face is dead serious."

He went on to give examples of sports shows such as Barkley's own "Inside the NBA on TNT" and the "The Dan Patrick Show."

"In 2013 Charles said on 'Inside the NBA,' 'If I could get Skip Bayless in a room, you'd need DNA to find out who he was,'" Bayless said. "And then another example was 2017 on 'The Dan Patrick Show:' 'If I could 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.'

"Ha! Ha! Ha! But Charles was not joking."

There are several examples of Barkley abusing or threatening to kill Bayless. He has relentlessly hated on Bayless and consistently demeaned the analyst for more than a decade. He did so recently as a guest on Draymond Green's podcast, and that triggered Bayless to go on this rant.

However, Bayless said he only calld out Barkley because his wife urged him to talk about the matter. Bayless insisted he doesn't care about the comments at all.

"Please understand, that doesn't bother me one bit," Bayless said. "I have lost zero sleep over any of this. ... I would like to think I have extremely thick skin. I've been criticized a whole lot more, I believe, than I have criticized. This is just what I do. It's who I am. So nothing Charles has ever said about me has bothered me to the point of losing sleep."

Bayless has requested Barkley to come on his show several times over the years so that they can hash out any differences they have publicly. But Barkley has reportedly never responded to any of the requests. Bayless has also accepted any form of challenge Barkley would offer, including a fistfight, a foot race or a game of golf.

Skip Bayless believes Charles Barkley's comments will influence someone else to take action

Charles Barkley during Capital One's The Match

Charles Barkley's comments might be fun and games for many, but there might be some mentally unstable person who takes him seriously. Many people get emotional about sports and might take action against Bayless if he was seen in public.

Bayless said:

"My wife, Ernestine, has believed for 15 years that Charles Barkley is nothing but a sick individual that, to her, he is just pure evil. That he is depraved. That he is a scumbag. And she believes or fears that one day Charles will somehow – maybe unwittingly or maybe wittingly – inspire some other nut to end my life, and this haunts her.

"This hurts her, because she believes that in the end, Charles Barkley would have my blood on his hands. And if that were Charles' goal from the start ... then I congratulate him, because he wins on this one. He has hurt my wife deeply, and she has lost much sleep over this."

Bayless erupted on "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" as well. Only time will tell if Barkley and Bayless will ever get face-to-face and hash out their differences. But Bayless does have a point about a random person being influenced, and perhaps Barkley should reconsider his choice of words.