Millions of people across North America got to experience and enjoy Monday’s solar eclipse. But it turns out that not everyone was happy to take notice of the rare event, a fact that TNT’s Charles Barkley made very clear during halftime of the National Championship game between the UConn Huskies and the Purdue Boilermakers.
The eclipse was brought up during TNT’s halftime coverage when a graphic was shown of Barkley’s face covering the sun instead of the moon.
The real Charles Barkley then called those who watched the eclipse “losers”, which Ernie Johnson pushed back pretty heavily against.
“Were ya’ll some of them losers standing outside watching (the eclipse) today?”
“They are not losers,” Johnson replied.
“Yes they are,” Barkley added. “Hey, we have all seen darkness before. Stop it.”
“Come on Chuckster,” said Johnson. “Don’t hate on the eclipse!”
"Were ya'll some of them losers standing outside watching [the eclipse] today?" – Charles Barkley
"They're not losers." – Ernie Johnson
"Yes they are. Hey, we've all seen darkness before. Stop it." – Chuck
"Come on, Chuckster. Don't hate on the eclipse." – Ernie pic.twitter.com/u0lU3dS3T9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 9, 2024
Barkley then further expanded on his stance, blasting eclipse watchers even more by calling them “idiots” for sitting outside to see it.
“I’m not gonna sit outside like an idiot and wait on the darkness. It’s gonna be dark when we go outside tonight.”
Say what you will about the eclipse and whether it was worth seeing or not. But the event got coverage from some of the biggest networks on television. So it obviously had an audience. But it is safe to say that Barkley clearly wasn’t a part of that audience.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.