“NBA players aren’t more important than other people”: Charles Barkley retracts his statement on LeBron James and co deserving to jump the COVID-19 vaccine queue

Charles Barkley apologizes for his comments suggesting that NBA players should receive the COVID-19 vaccine before others.

The NBA knew the risk of commencing their 2020-21 NBA season in the midst of a pandemic. About 15 games into the season and there are multiple teams that are currently undergoing COVID protocols.

Teams such as Grizzlies and Wizards are having their games postponed to the second half of the season. The Wizards haven’t played an NBA game since the 11^th of January due to health and safety protocols.

The silver lining to all of this is that the COVID-19 vaccine is being administered to the public, including NBA players. Ahead of the vaccination, Charles Barkley had a strange opinion on who should receive the vaccine first.

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Barkley said that NBA players should be prioritized over others when it comes to dealing out the vaccine. This statement didn’t go over so well with many people calling him out on it.

Charles Barkley says that he never meant to say NBA players are more important than others

Charles Barkley received a ton of backlash following this comment. People online were wondering as to why NBA players should be able to cut the line to get vaccinated first when there’s no reason as to why they should be prioritized over anyone else.

Chuck clarified these statements and said, “I made it seem like they (NBA players) were more important than other people and they are not. It came off as stupid and I apologize if anbody was offended by it.”

Charles Barkley apologizes after being slammed over #coronavirus vaccine comments: “It came off stupid and I apologize if anybody was offended” https://t.co/U9XnSd1Hax

— ET Canada (@ETCanada) January 22, 2021

In terms of economic growth of the country, the NBA and its players do generate a lot more revenue when compared to the ‘average Joe’ of the US. However, this cannot be a reason as to why they should be given preferential treatment.

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NBA athletes are some of the healthiest people in the world due to the intense conditioning they go through to play the sport. It would make sense if the vaccine was distributed to people who have pre-existing respiratory health issues first.