Outspoken former NBA superstar Charles Barkley said he agrees with the verdict in the murder trial of George Zimmerman, but blasted the media for giving platforms to racists to “vent” their ignorance.

Barkley, 50, gave his assessment on the high-profile Florida murder trial to CNBC on Thursday, saying jurors simply did not have enough evidence to convict the former neighborhood watch volunteer in the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

“Well I agree with the verdict,” Barkley said. “I feel sorry that young kid got killed, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Something clearly went wrong that night — clearly something went wrong — and I feel bad for anybody who loses a kid, but if you looked at the case and you don’t make it — there was some racial profiling, no question about it — but something happened that changed the dynamic of that night.”

Barkley recognized his take is “probably not a popular opinion among most people,” but said the evidence pointed to an acquittal.

“I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”

Barkley, originally of Alabama, was named one of the NBA’s all-time 50 greatest players in 1993, the same year he won the league’s Most Valuable Player award. The 11-time All-Star retired after the 1999-2000 season and then began a successful career as a basketball analyst for Turner Network Television. He has also flirted with the idea of entering politics, announcing in 2008 that he intended to run for governor of Alabama before later changing his mind.

“Like I said, I feel sorry that young kid got killed, but just judging by the evidence, I don’t think that guy should’ve went to jail for the rest of his life,” Barkley continued. “Mr. Zimmerman was wrong to pursue, he was racial profiling, but I think Trayvon Martin — God rest his soul — I think he did flip the switch and started beating the hell out of Mr. Zimmerman. But it was just a bad situation.”

Barkley then took aim at unnamed media personalities who allegedly allowed their own biases to show throughout coverage of the murder trial.

“The main thing I feel bad for is it gives every white person and black person who’s racist a platform to vent their ignorance,” he said. “That’s the thing that bothered me the most. I watched this trial closely and I watched these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. They want to have their racist views, whether they are white or black … Their biases definitely come out. It was a bad situation. We all lost.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/07/19/charles-barkley-said-agrees-with-george-zimmerman-verdict/#ixzz2ZcsP3JFU

He also blasted Sharpton, love his bravery.

lol

good for Barkley, he has an opinion like the rest of us,,,,

Notice how the reporter interjected 'most were not happy with the verdict?

I would interject, 'a few were not happy and many weren't even interested, not bothering to follow it.

Good to see Mr Barkley isn't a bigot.

Enough is enough.

Keeping it alive is a great way for the Administration to deflect scrutiny into their Misdeeds!

mmm,, posting about keeping it 'alive' is keeping it 'alive' as much as any other posts,,,lol

people can talk about what interests them,, they do it all the time on mingle2,, there are at least twenty other threads and topics to participate in when we don't want to participate in something, and we also have the option of starting our own threads and topics,,,

I doubt it has anything to do with some conspiracy in government that people in THIS thread or any other make the decision to talk about what interests them,,,,

Not really.

I think these types of observations should be pointed out. People need to become aware of what they are doing.

Most of the time they are not. They just follow the mob of people an get sucked into whatever they are told to pay attention to by the media whores.

well, I think everyones observations should be considered equally necessary,, even if its observations that some don't want to hear or read about

particularly if they are free to read and write about whatever they want as well,,,

and every post after mine,, whatever 'observation' is there will be keeping this thread (which I didn't start, btw) alive..

otherwise, other threads will replace it and it will fade away,,,

lets see if no one else chooses to keep it alive,,,,

Yea, but I think Uncle Jesse and Dishonorable Al will be going after him full speed now!

I think the most they can do is against his future earnings related to this incident,, like they did OJ

but I also think he will self destruct and mess up elsewhere down the road,, like OJ did

All's he has to do is declare bankruptcy.

I doubt he will mess up. The kid is a national hero for taking out a thug.

he has ,'messed up' before

domestic chrges with the ex
ggressive behavior towards a cop
speeding with a gun on his possession
throwing a woman out of a party,, physically


lol,, you can believe the 200 pound 29 year old cowardly 'kid' isn't going to mess up again

but trends can be very telling, and his trends keep being reinforced by the lack of any real accountability,,,,


and Im sure the 'man' will mess up, or at the very least live a life of constantly being 'suspicious' to other 'overzealous' citizens and having to look over his shoulder,,,



karma

You forgot to add "He got away with murder like O.J. did".

He's just one of millions.

He could walk through the middle of Watts and not be given a second glance.

yep,, many people believed oj did just that

and many believe Zimmerman did too


of course, oj wasnt at the scene with the weapon trying to explain how and why it was done,,,,,


but the disparate social perception of the cases is similar,,,

Zimmerman waited for the police to show up.
O.J. Simpson went home and left a trail of blood for the police to follow.

well, that will always be the point of debate

evidence 'left' by someone vs evidence 'planted' by a crooked police department,,,,,

or a false claim that evidence was planted

or a false claim that there was 'deadly sidewalk' bashing,,,

but,, reasonable doubt is reasonable doubts, and juries decide what narrative they believe,,,

...and if you had been on the jury and if you would have been honest, you too would have found him not guilty because there is no proof and there is a lot of reasonable doubt.

...that is, if you could have gotten past your own imagination and prejudice.. which I don't think you could have.