Sports broadcaster and former NBA star Charles Barkley is considering taking a job at CNN to help the failing network regain its former glory.
Barkley claimed that CNN is wooing him to team up with Gayle King for a show on the news network, though the deal is far from complete.
“We don’t have anything set in stone. I’m only considering it because of my respect for Gayle,” Barkley told the New York Post on Thursday.
Gayle King attends Marvel Studio’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” New York Screening at AMC 34th Street on November 01, 2022, in New York City. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Barkley added that he has no interest in doing a daily show on CNN, adding, “That is never going to happen.”
The 60-year-old sportsman recently signed a 10-year deal with Warner Brothers Discovery, the parent company of TNT and TBS, but the deal might be affected if Warners loses its NBA contract at the end of the 2025 season.
Still, Warner Discovery also owns CNN, so it isn’t out of the question that Barkley could maintain his TNT basketball analysis deal along with appearing on CNN.
One reason he is considering the deal is that CNN is spiraling down the tubes, and he feels he might be able to help lift it back up.
“I just want to help the company because, obviously it is a shit show right now. Anything I can do to help,” Barkley said.
Charles Barkley is seen on the red carpet during the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Symphony Hall on September 10, 2022, in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
CNN recently hit ratings at a nine-year-low, so Barkley’s “shit show” comment was putting it mildly.
CNN’s latest CEO, Chris Licht, has been desperately casting a wide net for personalities that might bring viewers back to the flailing network that was once the top name in cable news.
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