Kenny Smith has enjoyed a successful media career sitting next to Charles Barkley, but there were times he felt his brazen co-host crossed a line.
As Inside the NBA tips off its final series on TNT before moving to ESPN next season, Smith spoke to The New Yorker about his career; past, present and future. During the interview, Charles Bethea asked Smith about his willingness to call Barkley out.
In 2014, Smith wrote an open letter in USA Today criticizing Barkley for calling rioters during the Ferguson unrest “scumbags.” Smith said he warned Barkley of the letter and let him read it first, but felt it was important to share his issue publicly since so many people associate them with each other.
And more than a decade before the letter, Smith took issue with a Sports Illustrated cover photo featuring Barkley.
“They had him in a slave uniform, in chains,” Smith recalled of the SI photo during his interview with The New Yorker. “And it’s, like, Charles Barkley unchained. And so I said, ‘Chuck, what I have a problem with is, like, ten people had to go, yeah, that’s okay. Like, there had to be a meeting. One person doesn’t make that decision.’”
Just as he did after Barkley labeled Ferguson rioters “scumbags,” Smith shared his issue with the Sports Illustrated cover photo publicly.
“To me, the cover perpetuates racism and stereotypes that you basically went at in the article,” Smith told Barkley during a 2002 episode of Inside the NBA.
In the photo, Barkley appears sweaty, shirtless and wearing white pants while breaking from chains and shackles. Barkley admitted some friends advised him against letting Sports Illustrated using the photo, but he didn’t seem to regret it at the time.
‘Charles Barkley Unchained’
From the cover shoot for the March issue of Sports Illustrated (2002) pic.twitter.com/foX9jHGgfB
— Hoops Nostalgia (@HoopsNostalgia) August 26, 2022
“America assumes that Black people are Black athletes,” Barkley responded to Smith in 2002. “Black people are struggling. Black athletes are not black America. Black people are really struggling. Everybody is not going to like the picture, but you will get over it.”
Barkley also said he was supposed to be joined by one of the most famous athletes in the world, but they decided against it. He didn’t say who the athlete was, only noting it wasn’t Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods.
The image is jarring and it’s hard to imagine a publication running with something similar today. Terry McDonell was managing editor of Sports Illustrated at the time. The Charles Barkley Unchained photo was McDonell’s first cover with the magazine.
Smith was not the only person who took issue with the image, with many expressing outrage over the cover. But Smith had the unique opportunity to address it directly with Barkley, while on national TV. He took that opportunity, and the candor between Barkley and Smith has continued for more than two decades.
