Charles Barkley isn’t on any social media site, and he isn’t going to be joining anytime soon.
His feelings towards it only magnified after the abuse that Ohio State forward E.J. Liddell received after their stunning first round loss in the NCAA tournament on Friday.
“You guys give me a hard time because I refuse and will never do any type of social media, this is the reason why … I am never going to deal and dignify these losers and interact with them ever,” Barkley said on Saturday morning. “I don’t care how much money somebody offers me, I am never going to do social media because of this.”
On Saturday, Liddell shared screenshots of several horrific direct messages he received on Instagram, just hours after they were knocked out of the tournament by Oral Roberts.
“F***ing disgrace,” a fan wrote. “Don’t ever show your face at Ohio State. We hate you. I hope you die, I really do.”
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Liddell ut up a team-high 23 points and 14 rebounds in the overtime loss.
“Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I’m human,” he wrote on Twitter.
Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann issued a statement condemning the social media attacks:
“For a kid, No. 1, he had a great game,” he said. “But for you to give the kid death threats and to hurl racial slurs at him because you’re safe in your own home like a coward behind a computer and nobody knows how you are, you need to take a hard look at yourself in the mirror … But why would you sit at your house and tweet or send something to a kid that’s No. 1 after he lost a stupid basketball game and give him death threats or hurl racial slurs, you need to take a good look in the mirror and realize you’re just a freaking loser.”
