Everyone roasted Charles Barkley for his terrible take on NBA, NFL athletes jumping vaccine line

Pro tip: Never a good idea to health and safety to how much money a person makes.

During Thursday night’s Inside the NBA, a seemingly exhausted Charles Barkley offered up an outrageous COVID vaccine take, saying that professional athletes should be able to jump the line because they pay more in taxes.

“Three hundred million shots, give a thousand to some NBA players, NFL players, hockey players,” Barkley said. “Listen, as much taxes as these players pay, they deserve some preferential treatment.”

Kenny Smith pushed back against Barkley’s take, asking if Barkley was really saying athletes should get such preferential treatment when it comes to matters of “life or death.”

“Yes,” Barkley doubled down.

Look, I don’t even know where to begin with why this is such a dumb and callous take, but off the top of my head, the health and safety of an individual should never be tied to the amount of money that they make. It’s an absurd logic that says athletes matter more than essential workers because they are in a high income bracket, and therefor theoretically pay more in taxes. It devalues the inherent worth of a life, tying it to arbitrary market factors ruled under the inhumane laws of capitalism.

Plus, it isn’t even factual. Top tier athletes, like the top 1% of society, often pay a lower tax rate than many working class people.

Money doesn’t determine a person’s worth, nor should it determine where they stand in line to receive a COVID vaccine.

Thankfully, Twitter was more than happy to dunk on Barkley for his garbage, elitist take.