‘They named their mascot after them’: NBA icon Barkley under fire for joking Georgia women look like ‘bulldogs’

Former NBA superstar Charles Barkley has landed in some hot water after comments he made on a live television spot this week in which he appeared to disparage the appearances of women from the US state of Georgia.

'Sir Charles', as the 11-time All-Star was known throughout his iconic career, made the comments entirely unreflective of his regal nickname while covering the Dallas Mavericks' 115-110 win against the LA Lakers on Thursday when his co-host on the 'Inside the NBA' show, Ernie Johnson, brought the conversation to the performance of Lakers star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who scored a respectable 29 points in his team's losing effort.

The discussion turned to the University of Georgia, the school from which Caldwell-Pope took his first steps into the NBA, where Barkley let loose his critical comments.

"Georgia the only school in the world they named their mascot after the women down there," said Barkley on the broadcast, prompting immediate censure from his co-host. 

"So totally uncalled for,” said Johnson, who also later said that he was "not even gonna dignify that with a response."

"Has he looked in a mirror?," asked one fan in response to Barkley's comments, while another explained that Barkley "doesn't care about cancel culture".

Another fan said that Barkley's comments were clearly a joke, and that anyone offended by them "needs to move along".

Incredibly, this isn't the first time that Barkley has come under some significant fire for comments he made on television about the appearance of women in the United States.

During a 2014 episode of the same television show, Barkley also made distasteful comments about the looks of women from the Texan city of San Antonio.

"Some big ol’ women down there [in San Antonio] … that’s a gold mine for Weight Watchers," said Barkley, who was frequently the target of criticism for being overweight throughout his playing career.

"Victoria is definitely a secret [in San Antonio] … they can’t wear no Victoria’s Secret down there… They wear bloomers down there … ain’t nothing skimpy down there," he added.

Those comments were slammed by anti body-shaming groups, including the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance and the Obesity Action Coalition - and it seems that after his latest verbal gaffe, you can probably expect some sort of grovelling apology to appear on social media before long.