Charles Barkley: Doug Jones’ Senate Victory Over Roy Moore Is a ‘Wake Up Call’

“Yeah, we got a bunch of rednecks and a bunch of ignorant people, but we got some amazing people here and they rose up.”

Adam K. Raymond

Dec 13, 2017

NBA legend Charles Barkley is a variously known around the country as a goofball, a jackass and goober, and all for good reason. But in Alabama, he’s a hero.

So when the Leeds native, who went to Auburn before going pro, threw his support behind Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in a special election held Tuesday night, it meant something in the heart of Dixie,.

Barkley hit the campaign trail for Jones and his pitch was direct, if a tad inelegant. “We gotta, at some point, we gotta stop looking like idiots to the nation,” he said to a crowd of Jones supporters of election eve.

On Tuesday, Alabama made Chuck proud. Rather than elect former judge Roy Moore, a Constitution-defying demagogue and former town perv accused of sexual assault, Alabama elected Jones, a civil rights attorney who has put some very bad guys behind bars.

Barkley was thrilled after the results came in. “I’m so proud of my state. I love my state. We got some amazing people here. Yeah, we got a bunch of rednecks and a bunch of ignorant people, but we got some amazing people here and they rose up today.”

But he also had some harsh words for Democrats feeling content with the victory Tuesday. “They’ve taken the black vote and the poor vote for granted for a long time. It’s time for Democrats to get off their asses.” Barkley told CNN. “This is a wake up call for democrats to do better for black people and poor white people.”

Barkley wasn’t the only Alabama legend to celebrate Jones’ win on Tuesday night. Fellow Auburn Tigert and two-sport superstar Bo Jackson tweeted his support too, though he wasn’t quite as entertaining as Chuck.