Watch: Charles Barkley Interrupts 'March Madness' to Deliver Democratic Party Talking Points
When it comes to illegal immigration, Americans at present seem to inhabit two different universes.
For instance, basketball legend Charles Barkley, not generally known as a liberal, appears to have swallowed the Democratic Party’s lies about immigration and then decided to repeat those lies in front of a national television audience that tuned in to watch college basketball.
In a clip posted to the social media platform X, Barkley followed up a segment on Connecticut Huskies forward Alex Karaban and his family by launching into a monologue about the unfair treatment of “amazing” immigrants that lasted more than a minute.
Barkley made those comments on CBS before Connecticut’s thrilling 73-72 win over the Duke Blue Devils. With the victory, the Huskies advanced to the Final Four.
According to Awful Announcing, Karaban’s parents emigrated from Belarus.
With that in mind, Barkley put on as severe a look as possible before launching into his pro-immigrant rant. After all, virtue-signaling requires that the signaler both look and sound morally serious.
“I want to be very careful with my words right now,” the veteran basketball commentator began. “’Cause this is a really touchy subject for me.”
Note that Barkley, an Alabama native, somehow made the subject of immigration personal. He did that, of course, for the same reason all virtue-signalers do. Namely, if they pose as emotionally distressed, they lay claim to a moral high ground they otherwise do not possess. In so doing, they also foreclose the possibility of a serious challenge to their argument. At that point, nothing remains but their supposedly deeply held convictions. In that way, they make it all about themselves.
“I love that kid and his family,” Barkley added, referring to Karaban.
Again, note the technique: if you disagree with Barkley, apparently you don’t love the kid and his family.
“But the way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace,” the basketball legend continued. “I think there’s a difference between amazing immigrants and criminal immigrants. And I think what’s going on in our country, what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants is really unfortunate, and it’s really sad.”
Barkley, of course, provided no examples. Virtue-signaling does not require any. Instead, he rested his one-minute interruption on irrelevant platitudes.
“That’s a great immigrant story,” he said of Karaban. “We have a lot of great immigrant stories out there who, their stories need to be told. But some of the stuff that’s happening to immigrants in our country right now is really unfortunate, and it’s really unfair. But immigrants built this country. And we should admire them and respect them.”
All the while, Barkley affected as much emotion as he could muster, complete with a closing sniffle.
“The way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace… I think what’s going on in our country, what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants, is really unfortunate and it’s really sad.” – Charles Barkley on CBS pic.twitter.com/uEllZpD57u
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 29, 2026
In the win over Duke, Karaban played a team-high 38 minutes but struggled on only 2-of-10 shooting. Too bad the young man had to have his name connected to Barkley’s pathetic performance.
Oddly enough, the NBA legend has not exactly aligned with liberals in the past. That made Sunday’s virtue-signaling rant all the more perplexing.
The pablum about “amazing immigrants” was bad enough. (Does anyone doubt that many legal immigrants qualify as “amazing”? Has that ever entered the controversy?) But for Barkley to feign emotion really went beyond the pale.
Worse yet, how have Democrats succeeded in conflating legal with illegal immigrants? They have gone to great lengths to do it. And judging by dupes like Barkley, their efforts have borne fruit.
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