‘Big Ol’ Women’ In San Antonio Get the Last Laugh as Charles Barkley Booed for Doubling Down on Years-Long Beef
Outspoken NBA legend Charles Barkley stirred the pot once again with his decades-long feud with San Antonio, refusing to back down from his notorious comments about the city’s women during his appearance at the March Madness festival.
The 62-year-old Hall of Famer took the stage on Sunday, April 6, just one day after his alma mater, Auburn, lost its Final Four matchup against Florida — which went on to win the national championship with a 65-63 victory over Houston Monday night — and wasted no time reigniting the controversy that has defined his relationship with the Texas city.
Despite facing a mixed reception of boos and laughter from the crowd, Barkley remained unfazed as he continued the running joke that has simultaneously entertained and offended San Antonio residents for nearly two decades.
The basketball legend softened the initial negative reaction by praising San Antonio as a “great city” and expressing his admiration for Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and the team, before launching right back into his controversial remarks.
“Yes, y’all got some big b—ches here,” Barkley declared to the crowd, adding another chapter to what has become one of sports media’s most persistent punchlines.
The reaction on TikTok was as divided as the live audience.
Charles Barkley on Stage in San Antonio😂😂
“San Antonio…..Yes, y’all do got some big ole b*itches” pic.twitter.com/NSJEbBCCfX
— Charlie Reynolds (@creynolds1563) April 7, 2025
Many locals seemed to take the joke in stride, with one TikTok commenter writing, “You can call him everything except a liar.”
Another San Antonio native agreed, commenting, “He’s not wrong and I’m a native. There are some huge b—ches here.”
Others admired his stick-to-it-ness, with one person noting, “Double down??? He’s quadruple to the 3rd powered down now,” while another added, “He doesn’t back down you have to respect that.”
However, not everyone found the humor in Barkley’s repeated jabs.
Some commenters pushed back against the sexist undertones, with one person writing, “It’s such a stupid misogynistic word,” before criticizing those who laughed along, adding, “Half their moms look like these girls they’re talking about.”
The feud dates back almost 20 years when Barkley first made comments about the “big ol’ women down in San Antonio” while discussing the Spurs on “Inside the NBA.”
Since then, he has continued to reference the joke, comparing “skinny Houston women” to “big-ass women in San Antonio” in 2019, and in 2021 remarking that San Antonio women couldn’t fit through doorways, according to brobible.com.
His jokes extended beyond personal appearances when he once claimed he would open up a food truck and get rich, implying San Antonio women would buy up all his food.
He even called the city’s popular River Walk a “dirty, little creek” in March 2023 while discussing Victor Wembanyama’s potential draft to the Spurs, MySan Antonio.com reported.
The backlash has been substantial over the years.
Tim Duncan’s girlfriend famously responded by wearing a shirt reading “Barkley Don’t Know,” a trend that caught on with many local women.
The pushback intensified in 2015 when Abby Lentz published a four-page article through the Obesity Action Coalition condemning Barkley’s discriminatory comments.
In the article, titled “Basketball, Barkley and Fat Bashing,” she said, “I felt like I was back in junior high again.”
By 2021, the pressure had mounted to the point that Warner Bros. reportedly asked Barkley to stop making these jokes on “Inside the NBA.” Barkley blamed “cancel culture” for the ban, telling reporters, “You can’t even have fun nowadays without these jackasses trying to get you canceled and things like that.”
He defended himself by saying, “I didn’t call anybody personally fat in San Antonio, I was just joking around.”
When Auburn center Dylan Cardwell arrived in San Antonio for the Final Four, he playfully commented that he “had not seen any of the women that Charles Barkley was talking about.”
After arriving in San Antonio, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl told players to get out on the River Walk and experience San Antonio and “enjoy what they’ve earned”
Auburn center Dylan Cardwell has quickly embraced the Alamo City 😂 pic.twitter.com/V9pEGWnxXA
— Zack Hedrick (@zhedrickTV) April 3, 2025
Despite facing criticism, calls for cancellation, and formal requests to stop, Barkley’s return to San Antonio for the Final Four demonstrates his unwillingness to abandon what has become his signature bit.
On April 8, NBA on TNT shared a clip of Barkley participating in the viral “Pop the Balloon” dating game, where singles attempt to snag a date with one lucky suitor. However, if they don’t like what they see or hear, they pop their balloon to excuse themselves from the game. As Barkley participated in the game in San Antonio, there’s no doubt that he was not going to have much luck with the ladies.
The women had a number of reasons they turned down a chance at love with Barkley, including the fact he likes to “wolf down” churros and that he lacks muscles. “You don’t even have any rings,” quipped one contestant.
As one commentator aptly observed, at this point there appears to be no stopping Barkley.
The more pushback he receives from the women of San Antonio, the more determined he seems to become to perpetuate his controversial joke — a testament to his unapologetic approach to comedy, which continues to divide audiences along the lines of humor and sensitivity in an era increasingly defined by evolving standards of acceptable public discourse.
