Galveston city council member responds to Charles Barkley’s ‘dirty water’ comments

Barkley, a former NBA star who played part of his career with the Houston Rockets, criticized the beaches in nearby Galveston during Saturday’s NBA playoffs broadcast on TNT.

Adam Zuvanich

| April 29, 2024, 5:27 PM

Galveston Beach — As part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project, these beaches in Galveston will have a double dune system and extra sand added to extend into the Gulf Coast.

Former NBA star Charles Barkley, now a basketball analyst on television, made some pointed remarks over the weekend about Galveston and its beaches, referring to its water as "dirty."

Some in Galveston are throwing similar shade at the 61-year-old Barkley, who played for the Houston Rockets at the end of his 16-year, hall-of-fame career.

"Mr. Barkley used the phrase ‘dirty water washed up on the beach,'" Galveston City Council member David Collins wrote in a Monday email to Houston Public Media. "If anyone understands being washed up, it would be Mr. Barkley."

Barkley criticized Galveston, a coastal city southeast of Houston and popular tourist destination, during Saturday's playoff postgame show on TNT in response to a lackluster performance by the New Orleans Pelicans in their 106-85 loss at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The loss left the Pelicans on the verge of being eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs, and the TV analysts like to jokingly and ceremoniously send eliminated teams "fishing" or to vacation destinations such as Cancun, Mexico.

"They didn't even try, man," Barkley said of the Pelicans. "We're not giving them no plane ticket to the beach. Send they ass to Galveston, Texas, right where that dirty water washed up on the beach. They can't even get in no water."

Barkley's remarks drew laughter from fellow analysts Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith, another former Rockets player. But they might not have been a laughing matter in Galveston, a historical community with more than 50,000 residents.

The Galveston Park Board, which cleans and maintains 32 miles of beachfront, said in a statement it creates a "clean, safe and fun environment for beachgoers." The park board, while acknowledging that "water conditions change day to day," also said "locals and visitors love having such an accessible, picturesque beachfront right at the end of Interstate 45.

"Galveston is much more than a beach town," the park board also said. "There are a multitude of attractions and amenities to enjoy across the island, from theme parks to world-class museums to fine dining, there's no shortage of fun. Galveston is a family-friendly and cost-friendly destination, and we think the Pelicans would find well-deserved R&R here in the offseason."