Charles Barkley Calls Out Kyrie Irving For Not Getting The COVID Vaccine: You Don’t Get Vaccinated Just For Yourself

Charles Barkley, Kyrie Irving

Charles Barkley Calls Out Kyrie Irving For Not Getting The COVID Vaccine: You Don’t Get Vaccinated Just For Yourself

Charles Barkley is the latest celebrity to weigh in on Kyrie Irving’s decision not to get the COVID vaccine. As previously reported, earlier this month news broke that Kyrie Irving, 29, is ineligible to play or practice with his team, the Brooklyn Nets, due to the NBA’s COVID-19 vaccine protocol. During a recent discussion on TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’ tip-off show, Charles Barkley made it very clear that he doesn’t agree with Kyrie’s stance. He said,

“ I got vaccinated, I can’t wait to get the booster. You don’t get vaccinated just for yourself. Like Adam [Silver] said, you get vaccinated for your family first, you get vaccinated for your teammates second. Things like that. That’s what bothers me about this whole thing.”

He continued,

“I really am proud of the Nets for putting their foot down — for saying ‘no, we’re not going to deal with this half on, half off [situation]. The only thing that bugs me is he’s still going to make $17 million [for] sitting at home.”

The retired NBA player added,

“People are saying he’s like [Muhammad] Ali. First of all, don’t ever compare anyone to Ali. Ali went three years without boxing when he was the highest-paid athlete in the world.”

 

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Last week (Oct. 13), Kyrie broke his silence on his COVID controversy and said,

“It’s not always about the money–it’s about choosing what’s best for you. You think I really want to lose money? You think I really want to give up on my dream to go after a championship? You think I really just want to give up my job?… You think I want to give up my livelihood because of the mandate, because I don’t have accommodations because I’m unvaccinated. C’mon–I’m not gonna be used as a person in this agenda. I’m not even gonna speak on that, I’m just saying it should not be divided amongst all of us. It should just be understood and respected.”

He added:

“This is not about the Nets, this is not about the organization, it’s not about the NBA, it’s not politics, it’s not any one thing.”

Kyrie Irving speaks pic.twitter.com/So7qwh1r2f

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) October 14, 2021

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