“Why the Hell Would I Want to Go a Month Without Drinking?”: Charles Barkley Would Rather ‘Peel Off His Fingernails’ Than Do Dry January

People from around the world celebrated ‘Dry January’ this past month. The month-long sobriety challenge has proven to have a positive effect on people’s lives. However, Charles Barkley is not interested in following the trend at all. Not only that, he finds it very absurd.

On an episode of The Steam Room, Chuck questioned the very purpose of this trend while stating that he would never be one to fall in line.

When he brought up the topic on the episode, Ernie Johnson had a surprised look on his face. He couldn’t help but ask his good friend if he really went a month without alcohol. Barkley soon clarified that he didn’t.

Chuck said, “Hell no. I just want to tell these other losers, welcome back to the party.”

It’s beyond Barkley’s understanding why someone would willingly not drink for a whole month. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle could be a reason, but Chuck is above all that. He said, “Why the hell would I go a month without drinking?” For Sir Charles, ‘peeling off his fingernails’ would be an easier thing to do.

The Dry January campaign was started in 2013 by a UK-based charity called Alcohol Change UK. Over the past decade, it has become a challenge that people around the world take up as it helps decrease the proportion of people drinking at harmful levels by 50%.

While it might be great for others, the owner of Redmont Vodka is fiercely against the prudish campaign.

What’s surprising is that Barkley has had his fair share of struggles with alcohol in the past. “I’ve got to stop drinking. I drink way too much and it has been affecting my game… I haven’t played as well as I would have liked to this season, and obviously drinking has something to do with it,” he told the LA Times in 1998.

Charles Barkley was drunk during a game in 1992

Barkley was a Laker for a very short period. In 1992, the Round Mound of Rebound received a call from his agent in the afternoon and was informed that he had been traded to the Lakers. His agent told him that his deal would be finalized soon and he’d get back to him with more information. The massive trade was a call for celebration.

So, Sir Charles got his friends together and they started drinking. By 3:30, he received another call from his agent that crushed his dream.

“I’m drunk…and we got a game that night, and I’m like ‘what? What are you talking about?’ And he’s like ‘The Sixers were scared to pull the trigger.’ So, I’m like ‘You’re kidding me, dude we got a game tonight and I’ve been drinking since noon.’ The one thing that’s funny, I don’t even know how I played that night,” he told Zach Lowe.

Even he had no recollection of that particular game, but Chuck’s best guess was that he must’ve had a very bad game.