Charles Barkley has enraged a city-wide fanbase once again, this time with San Francisco. The 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend is being held in San Francisco in the Golden State Warriors‘ home arena, the Chase Center. But Barkley has made it clear in the past that he isn’t a fan of the city.
During NBA on TNT’s live show from San Francisco, Barkley tried mending fences with the residents of the city. He made a plea to improve conditions for the homelessness issue in the city but was resoundingly booed by the people, upsetting Barkley.
“I used to like San Francisco. I really do. Honestly, we’ve got to do something about the homeless, they need our help. We need to clean it up a little bit.”
“See, I say help the homeless, and some of these people are so stupid, they booed.”
Charles Barkley expresses love for San Francisco, then gets booed after saying the homeless need help.
Via the Redditor u/AncientOneAureliushttps://t.co/8vKtkjUE8t pic.twitter.com/aGR8wYmwUm
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) February 14, 2025
Barkley had slammed the residents of San Francisco earlier this year while discussing the incoming All-Star game, initially saying he won’t attend the weekend in a ‘rat-infested’ city.
“I’m not going to that rat-infested place out in San Francisco… San Francisco is not a beautiful city! Rats. Cats… Y’all are not gonna make me like San Francisco. No. Nope, nope, nope.”
Barkley was already on thin ice with the city’s residents but it seems like the residents misinterpreted Barkley talking about homelessness as another shot at the city as a whole, not a call to action.
Homelessness is a major problem for the city. The last official number of homeless residents released by the city came on January 30, 2024, with 8,323 people being their count. This was already a near-8% increase from 2022 and the figure might just be worse one year later now in 2025.
This is a rapidly expanding problem in many urban centers in the USA, with rising living costs, flat wages, and a stuttering economy. San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities on earth, so it’s unsurprising to see them suffer from this problem more than some neighboring areas.
After the recent Pacific Palisades fires, plenty more residents in California are now dealing with homelessness. Sometimes it’s acts of God and sometimes it’s a broken system, so Barkley wanting to find solutions isn’t something that should be booed. The booing fans weren’t necessarily even booing the idea of helping the homeless, it just came from a man whose previous opinions on the city have been harsh.
The glitz and glamor of the NBA All-Star Weekend will likely paper over the homeless issue, which wouldn’t directly impact these high-profile individuals who’ll be well taken care of throughout the weekend. However, it is admirable for Barkley to address the problem and make it clear he’d rather want solutions than mock the city for this.
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