https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-hit-you.html

Former NBA star Charles Barkley has apologized for telling a female Axios reporter, 'I don't hit women but if I did I would hit you.'

That reporter, Alexi McCammond, claims Barkley told her this after she asked him to clarify which presidential candidate he supported in 2020.

'Just FYI Charles Barkley told me tonight 'I don't hit women but if I did I would hit you,' and then when I objected to that he told me I "couldn't take a joke," McCammond wrote on Twitter.

Through a spokesperson for Turner Sports, Barkley issued an apology on Wednesday.

'My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable,' Barkley said. 'It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.'

Barkley was speaking off the record, McCammond admitted, but she felt strongly that the TNT basketball analyst should be held accountable for his statement.

'There are almost no times I will beak [sic] an OTR "agreement" but this is not OK,' McCammond continued.

According to McCammond, Barkley had said he supported former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick after previously supporting a Democratic rival, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

A former Republican who now supports Democratic candidates, Barkley was in a similar situation in 1990, when he made a flippant comment about domestic abuse when he was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Not shockingly but people have dug up offensive tweets made by the woman which include her using racial slurs. But she is in the media and works for a media company so nothing bad will happen to her.