Charles Barkley was ready to quit the All-Star Game over an anti-LGBTQ law
Basketball icon Charles Barkley talked to Ellen about how he helped get the 2017 NBA All-Star Game moved out of North Carolina after the state passed an anti-LGBTQ bathroom bill.
In 2016, the NBA All-Star Game was scheduled to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. But shortly after the state passed HB2 – which banned transgender people from using the appropriate bathrooms in public buildings and banned local governments from passing pro-LGBTQ civil rights ordinances – people started speaking out.
The NBA said at first that it would keep the game in Charlotte, but then Barkley said he told his boss that he would sit out the game because it’s being held in North Carolina.
“I don’t want to take away from the All-Star Game,” he said, but he didn’t want to go. His boss just told him: “You can’t sit out the All-Star Game; you are our biggest star,” and he talked to the NBA about moving the game.
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