(Western Journal) Ex-NBA star Charles Barkley says CNN is pleading with him to help the failing network regain its former glory.
Barkley claimed that CNN is wooing him to team up with Gayle King for a show on the news network, though the deal is far from complete.
“We don’t have anything set in stone. I’m only considering it because of my respect for Gayle,” Barkley told the New York Post on Thursday.
Barkley added that he has no interest in doing a daily show on CNN, adding, “That is never going to happen.”
King, of course, is currently a member of the “CBS Mornings” team and not signed by CNN currently.
Barkley, 60, just signed a 10-year deal with Warner Brothers Discovery, the parent company of TNT and TBS. However, if the network is unable to renew its NBA contract in 2025, Barkley may find himself with more time on his hands than he might have thought when signing that contract.
Still, Warner Discovery also owns CNN, so he could conceivably serve double duty with both his basketball analysis duties and CNN.
CNN, of course, has suffered ratings disasters one after the other for years. And Barkley thinks he just might be able to help reverse that trend.
“I just want to help the company because obviously it is a sh*t show right now. Anything I can do to help,” Barkley said, according to the Post.
CNN recently hit ratings at a nine-year-low, so Barkley’s “s*** show” proclamation is an apropos description.
The ratings disasters are occurring all up and down the cable news network’s schedule.
Just this week, for instance, Mediaite reported that CNN’s star anchor, Anderson Cooper, was annihilated by Fox News.
