Overview
- Wednesday night, ESPN’s Inside the NBA showed a montage of Charles Barkley’s past barbs about San Antonio before Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones joined the panel during Game 1 pregame coverage.
- Ortiz Jones told Barkley, “I learned a long time ago you can’t teach courage, you can’t teach class, and Mr. Barkley reminds us of that,” and then presented him a box of authentic San Antonio churros.
- Barkley accepted the gift on air, said he was “just joking around,” complimented the city and bit into a churro during the broadcast.
- The exchange revives a long-running gag in which Barkley has mocked San Antonio’s women and referenced churros for more than a decade and follows his 2021 remark that producers had asked him to stop those jokes.
- Local leaders and national outlets framed the moment as a largely cordial rebuttal that spotlights questions about when recurring broadcast jokes cross a line and what that means for future on‑site Finals coverage.