Charles Barkley told reporter: ‘I don’t hit women, but if I did I would hit you’

Basketball legend Charles Barkley has apologised after telling a female reporter: “I don’t hit women, but if I did I would hit you.”

A political reporter says NBA legend Charles Barkley allegedly threatened to hit her after she questioned his apparent political indecisiveness as they discussed the 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.

Alexi McCammond, who is covering the 2020 presidential race for Axios, posted a series of tweets accusing Barkley, 56, of making inappropriate remarks while speaking to her off the record late Tuesday at an unspecified event.

“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.

In subsequent tweets, McCammond explained that she would normally never violate an “OTR agreement” but insisted Barkley’s comments needed to be exposed.

Barkley, through Turner Sports, apologised for his comments Wednesday morning.

“My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable. It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologise,” Barkley said in the statement.

McCammond replied to the tweet from the sports network and did not accept Barkley’s regret or any attempt to characterise the comment as a joke.

Barkley had earlier said that he supported former two-term Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick for president before abruptly changing his mind once he was approached by a member of Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, according to McCammond’s account.

“And it was all because he came in talking about how he loves Deval Patrick and once someone from Pete’s campaign came around he said he loved Pete and I reminded him he previously said he was a Deval fan,” McCammond tweeted.

The Washington-based reporter — who did not return multiple requests for comment — also included a photo of the NBA Hall of Famer, “albeit dark and blurry,” she wrote.

Charles Barkley and Alexi McCammond.

McCammond’s original post had been retweeted more than 2600 times as of early Wednesday. In another message, McCammond said she hated “being part of a story” but those who threaten violence should be held accountable.

“It’s not about me or my feelings — tho I’m grateful for the many friends who have reached out,” she wrote. “But it’s about refusing to allow this culture to perpetuate because of silence on these issues. It’s easier and less awkward to be silent, but that helps NO ONE but the perpetrator.”

Barkley’s alleged comments were quickly blasted as “outrageous” and “completely unacceptable” online, where some critics also noted that he apologised in 1990 for making light of beating his wife and kids after a near-loss while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, drawing criticism from women’s groups in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Barkley later insisted he was joking.

“This is a game that if you lose, you go home and beat your kids,” Barkley told a reporter at the time, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Did you see my wife jumping up and down at the end of the game? That’s because she knew I wasn’t going to beat her.”

Barkley shares a daughter named Christiana with Maureen Blumhardt, his wife of 30 years.