Jemele Hill Calls Out Charles Barkley, 'Love Him But He's Wrong'

Jemele Hill is a fan of Charles Barkley.

The former ESPN host has long admired the former NBA star, who has become one of the most influential figures in all of sports media. Hill grew up watching Barkley play in the NBA and she's long been a fan of how he's covered the league for "Inside the NBA" with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal.

But Hill believes that Barkley got it wrong recently.

Barkley was critical of NBA insider Shams Charania, who broke the news that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had won a second straight NBA MVP, ahead of an official announcement from Amazon Prime.

Barkley didn't like that Charania leaked the news.

"I like him a lot, but I didn't like that leaking," Barkley said on the SI Media podcast with Jimmy Traina. "(Amazon) paid $2.5 billion for the next 11 years. I think they deserved an exclusive. I think the NBA should be embarrassed that that got out. You know, you can't charge these networks that much money and then don't give them some exclusives on some things. I mean, I just think that's unfair."

Hill, though, believes that Barkley got this wrong.

Jemele Hill calls out Charles Barkley

Hill believes that Charania's job is to break news, not do what the NBA and its TV partners want him to do.

"Love Chuck, but he's wrong. Shams doesn't work for Amazon, or the NBA. His job is to report the news. It's called a scoop. And I hate that the lines in journalism have become so blurred that people truly don't recognize what the role of a journalist actually is," she wrote.

She added: "He is paid to cover the league. It is not his job to protect the league, which you seem to think that is his job. That's like saying if you're paid to cover the White House, you shouldn't report on things that will 'diminish' them."

Who's in the right - Hill or Barkley?

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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 8:45 AM.