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It's a good thing that Charles Barkley can dish it as well as we can take it from his Inside the NBA crew. Over the years, Barkley made it a tradition of playfully mocking San Antonio's “big ol' women.” In a satire of the viral Pop the Balloon series, they got their revenge.
If Barkley's suffering heartbreak watching Auburn lose to Florida in the Final Four wasn't enough, Kenny Smith stuck the dagger in deeper by presenting Barkley as a fictional suitor for various San Antonio women.
Pop the Balloon: Chuck 🤝 The Women of San Antonio
The women were RUTHLESS 😭 pic.twitter.com/7Z3ZdFH2MO
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 8, 2025
Immediately after Barkley walked out, though, every woman popped their balloon, which shouldn't have been surprising. Smith played it up for additional laughs by giving each woman an opportunity to explain why they popped their balloon. From his lack of rings to his rotund figure to his golf swing, the mini-sketch quickly morphed into an impromptu roast of Barkley. It's safe to say he was looking for love in the wrong place.
Charles Barkley's war with San Antonio
After a while, you start to feel kind of bad for him. Then you remember he brought this upon himself. Barkley's roasting of San Antonio women in 2010 during an episode of Inside the NBA when he remarked, “They ain't got no skinny women down there.” From there, the bit continued for more than a decade, with him eventually blaming it on the city's churros.
In 2021, Barkley said that he was asked to stop joking about the subject by higher-ups at the network and blamed “cancel culture.” It'll be interesting to see if ESPN revisits that request of Barkley next season. However, with the Final Four in San Antonio, he could not help himself after getting on stage during the Capitol One JamFest.
After thanking the crowd, Barkley proceeded to shower praise upon the city and expressed his love for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs.
Then, Barkley added, “San Antonio, y'all put on a major, major great show. And I want to say this: thank you, thank you, thank you. And yes, y'all got some big bi***es here.”
At long last, though, it appears Barkley vs. San Antonio has returned and displaced LeBron James vs. Stephen A. Smith as NBA media's most contentious feud.
