The Round Mound of Commentary?

Rumor has it that NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley may be going to work for CNN. CNN staffers are not happy about it:

Page Six has confirmed that execs have been in talks with the NBA legend and longtime broadcaster about appearing on the news channel in hope he can help the numbers to rebound.

I trust everyone got the joke.

But insiders tell us a deal with Barkley would be another way to alienate employees, who are already skeptical of [Chris] Licht’s decisions.
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Another source described the potential new hire as “another disaster waiting to happen” and likened it to MSNBC’s failed primetime show “Up Late with Alec Baldwin,” which lasted only five episodes in 2013.
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“People watch him to talk about sports, not politics and social justice issues and he’s expensive!” they pointed out.

Not to mention, they added, “They’ll be spending a lot of money on someone who’s not a real journalist.”

That last comment is amusing, given that, to the best of my knowledge, CNN does not currently employ any real journalists. (Don Lemon, anyone?) Barkley is intelligent, is not a slave to political correctness, and will say what he thinks on all occasions. But what does the Round Mound of Rebound have to say about the rumors?

Sports broadcaster and former NBA star Charles Barkley is considering taking a job at CNN 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.
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Warner Discovery also owns CNN, so it isn’t out of the question that Barkley could maintain his TNT basketball analysis deal along with appearing on CNN.

One reason he is considering the deal is that CNN is spiraling down the tubes, and he feels he might be able to help lift it back up.

“I just want to help the company because, obviously it is a shit show right now. Anything I can do to help,” Barkley said.

Heh. That will endear him further to the CNN newsroom.

So far, I have seen no speculation (let alone reporting) about what role Barkley might play at the failing news network. I take it they are talking about news, not sports. If so, it could be highly entertaining. I don’t think Barkley is exactly a conservative, although he once talked about running for Governor of Georgia as a Republican. (If he had been our Senate candidate rather than Herschel Walker, he would have won.) But he isn’t a liberal, either; certainly not the kind of brain-dead pod person we see so often. He would be by far the most iconoclastic and interesting person in the CNN lineup, however they might choose to use him.

Heck, if Charles Barkley had a show on CNN I might even tune in. But that speculation is, I suspect, too good to be true.