ARTS AND CULTURE

Charles Barkley

Former NBA player and broadcaster

In a year when the rest of the world saw the USA as riven by racial divides, NBA superstar Charles Barkley established himself as a voice of unity and reconciliation. After a number of African-American celebrities flirted with antisemitism on social media, former Philadelphia 76er Barkley challenged them directly. “You guys are famous, you got a platform. But I don’t understand how you can fight hatred with more hatred. I’m disappointed in you guys,” he wrote. Congratulating fellow NBA legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s stance against antisemitism, Barkley declared: “I don’t want to alienate anybody. And to take shots at the Jewish, the white race, I just don’t like it ’cause it’s not right.” (Photo: Wikimedia / Creative Commons License)