Charles Barkley Publicly Calls Out His ESPN Coworker, Stephen A. Smith

Charles Barkley and Stephen A. Smith are coworkers at ESPN. But that doesn't have to mean they agree on everything.

Earlier this month, Smith took issue with LeBron James' criticism of Memphis, making it a racial issue. Memphis is a historically Black city. James has made it clear that he doesn't enjoy road trips to Memphis and would never play for the Grizzlies.

"We can't throw shade on LeBron until we take into account knowing that 63 percent of the people there are black, knowing that they need this team to continue to help fuel the economy, the local economy there, as opposed to big up in Nashville, and saying, 'Why don't you just go there?' not thinking of the citizens at all," Smith said on ESPN's "First Take."

LeBron made his comments while doing a YouTube golf video with the Bob Does Sports crew.

But Barkley isn't happy.

The new ESPN star, who is part of the network through the "Inside the NBA" licensing deal, believes Smith was unfair in his comments.

Barkley calls out Smith for his criticism

Barkley doesn't think this has to be a race issue.

"LeBron said he didn't like Memphis or Milwaukee. And for some reason, everybody went crazy on the Memphis part because then they turned it into race, which is the best way to get idiots and fools talking about anything," Barkley told Ernie Johnson on the latest episode of The Steam Room podcast. "Every loser in the world wants to be racist. And Stephen A. jumped in, Jason Whitlock jumped in, Cam Newton jumped in, Ryan Clark jumped in, and Matt Barnes dropped in. Oh, these are all brothers. Yo, man. What the (expletive) are you all doing, man? LeBron don't like Memphis. Okay!"

Barkley is unhappy with how it blew up.

"LeBron said something about Memphis and the world took over, they made it about race, which is what anybody does when they want to stir up controversy. Y'all are successful!" Barkley continued. "Stephen A., you're one of the most successful people we have in television. Come on, man. Y'all got to do better, man."

LeBron hasn't backed down from his comments, either, standing by what he said about the city.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 10:00 PM.