Charles Barkley Blasts Athletes Who Would Skip White House Visit Because Of Donald Trump

Charles Barkley called out championship-winning teams that wouldn’t go to the White House on "The Steam Room" podcast with Ernie Johnson.

OutKick debunked a rumor that the Philadelphia Eagles - who won Super Bowl LIX - would firmly reject any invitation from President Trump to attend the White House. Moreover, the franchise said that it would accept an invite as soon as Trump extended one.

While that turnaround is certainly good, Barkley used the situation to bring up a bigger point about championship teams not choosing to visit the White House.

"The (report) came out (that) the Eagles were not going to the White House, I said, ‘I hate that.’ Then they came back and said, ‘No, we would definitely go.’ And I said, ‘Yo man, I don’t care who the president is, he’s the President of the United States.’ It's bothered me for the last 10 years when athletes are like, ‘Well I’m not going because this certain person is president,’" Barkley said.

(His comments begin at the 14:28 mark).

Since Barkley retired after the 1999-2000 season, he’ll never have a chance to visit the sitting president for winning a title. However, he did say that if he ever crossed paths with Trump, he'd show him more respect than some teams are willing to.

"Even though I disagree with President Trump on some things, if I met him, I would still give him the respect and dignity he deserves," Barkley said. "It bothers me when these teams don’t want to go to the White House. (When did we reach the point) as a country when we were like, ‘We’re not going to the White House because we don’t like who is in there?’ That’s just stupid, in my opinion."

You can always count on Sir Charles to bring a refreshingly blunt take to any situation, and he didn’t disappoint here.