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King Charles
King Charles Final Episode; Interview with Sen. Cory Booker (D- NJ); Interview with Shaquille O'Neal. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired April 10, 2024 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:37]
CHARLES BARKLEY, KING CHARLES HOST: Hey, Gayle.
GAYLE KING, KING CHARLES HOST: Hey, Mr. Barkley. I want to say, hey. Hello? Yes, it's Charles Barkley.
BARKLEY: Stop, Gayle.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Studios in New York City, it's King Charles.
BARKLEY: We're not going to waste your time.
KING: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With Gayle King.
KING: I'm Beyonce but you can call me Gayle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Charles Barkley.
BARKLEY: Cold and chill out here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, Senator Cory Booker, Charles' friend, basketball legend, Shaquille O'Neal, and best of friends, CNN's own Anderson Cooper and King of the Bravo Clubhouse, Andy Cohen. King Charles starts now.
KING: Going in, going in. Going in, going in. I know. We could almost call it a friendship, so we have a lot of friends.
BARKLEY: Me and Shaq are not friends, that's a typo.
KING: We'll see what Chuck has to say because he's going to join us a little bit later. We got so much to talk about tonight. Show is actually very packed so we're going to get started.
Super Friends, your favorite New Year's Eve date. Did you notice Charles when we were out there talking to people? When we said Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, everybody knew that show that they did on New Year's Eve.
BARKLEY: Oh, because it's fun to watch. KING: It's fun to watch. Everybody likes them. Everybody likes the show so we wanted to talk to Anderson and Andy tonight. You can call it AC squared. Then we're going to talk to Charles's best friend. Is Shaquille O'Neal really your best friend?
BARKLEY: Not even close. Not even close. It's more like an acquaintance.
KING: That is absolutely not true. Most of you just call him Shaq. We got a ton to ask him about. You have some questions for your acquaintance.
BARKLEY: I do.
KING: But that has got to wait because we need to bring in our first guest because he's very busy, booked and busy is what the kids say today. Democratic senator in front of the show, that would be Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Hello, Cory Booker of New Jersey.
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Hey, Gayle. You should know better, Gayle.
KING: Right.
BOOKER: First of all, it's great to be with you both. I just have to say from the top, you didn't make the connection to both Shaquille O'Neal born from Newark, New Jersey, me, former Mayor, you got to give some Newark love.
KING: That's right.
BARKLEY: Well, listen, in fairness, you know, he moved around a lot because his dad was in the army. So he claimed San Antonio, he doesn't claim Newark.
BOOKER: Oh my God. He opened up a movie theater in Newark.
KING: I know.
BOOKER: He opened up -- he built some of our first big buildings in the city in a long time.
KING: Yes.
BOOKER: I give a lot of love to Shaq.
KING: That's right. We would beg to differ.
BOOKER: Yes.
KING: But listen, I know you've just come back from a humanitarian trip. We'll talk to you about that in just a second. But first, let's talk about what's happening in this country. 209 days until the election, I want to get your temperature about how you think things are going. You know, today we have Marjorie Taylor Greene trying to -- seemingly trying to out Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House. Democrats are feuding about support for Israel. I'm wondering, how are you feeling 209 days out when we look at Donald Trump and we look at Joe Biden?
BOOKER: Well, I'm excited because if you compare Joe Biden's presidency to Donald Trump's presidency, you have a clear contrast. While jobs -- were millions of jobs were lost under Donald Trump, you've had Joe Biden be the best job producing president we've had. Joe Biden inherited this crisis where Donald Trump was telling us to inject ourselves with bleach, Biden got us through that crisis.
And now, after the whole world really suffering from a tough economy, our economy is showing signs of strength, that are the envy of the world around. We see manufacturing coming back in our economy, we see investments in everything from infrastructure, all the way from the environment, historic investments.
And I just sat with some business leaders in the tech sector, and saying that CHIPS and Science Act that we did, is going to pay dividends for generations to come. He's got a story to tell.
And even on the toughest issues, the Republicans have shown that they're about chaos and conflict, and not about solving problems. And the best example of that is the border bill that was passed out of the United States Senate, a bipartisan bill negotiated by one of their most conservative members that put tremendous resources at the border to protect us to better adjudicate issues down there.
And then Donald Trump said, no. I don't want to get behind a bill that really has in it things that would actually solve problems.
KING: I hear you, Cory. I hear you. That sounds like really good talking points for the Democrats. It really does. But when you think about Joe Biden also has a lot of incoming when it comes to Israel, you know? We're still six months in, six months in, this war is still continuing.
[22:05:06]
The Democrats are facing a lot of incoming about how you're going to handle this situation. Israel, of course, is an ally, we all know that. But there's also a lot of concern about the humanitarian efforts that are happening there, or a lot of innocent civilians who are losing their lives, you know, you've been very vocal about your support. You still feel that way?
BOOKER: Look, if this -- if you could look at what's happening in Gaza, or Ukraine, or Haiti, or Sudan right now and not be torn up, not having to anguish your heart, then I don't know, if you're -- you really have full humanity. We're a country right now that is witnessing hunger and suffering of innocent people in Gaza, as well as in a lot of other conflict zones. And this is a tough time to lead.
But President Biden on the world stage right now has stepped up in ways that have earned him the respect of our allies and peers all across the globe. Just talk to European leaders about what we're doing in Ukraine. And right now he is, and not him directly, but his team is negotiating between the terrorist organization, Hamas, and Israel to bring an end to this.
He's called unequivocally, let's bring about a ceasefire, release of hostages, secession of hostilities, open to the gates to --
KING: He's (inaudible), Cory, but it still has not happened. That's what I think is so frustrating for so many people.
BOOKER: I think it's frustrating for I think anybody who looks at it feels frustrated to see the kind of death and destruction in Gaza, the kind of violence that was endured by Israel, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. The hostages, including Americans that are being held, these are not easy issues and they shouldn't be judged on the politics of them. They should be judged on the work that needs to get done to resolve this conflict.
And I'm grateful that President Biden is standing in the saddle, in a very difficult time to lead globally, making tough calls and trying to drive this conflict to a resolution to end the violence and resolve the situation in a way that ends this punctuated violence we've had there, whether it's what we just saw with the attacks on Israel in 2014, or what Hamas and Iran, and their proxies have been doing.
This is tough times, and I understand the political ramifications scale. But this is really a time that should pull on our humanitarian heart. We need to get a lot more humanitarian aid into Gaza. But it also should pull on our larger ideals.
As a guy who's traveled to the Arab countries in that region, from Egypt, to Saudi Arabia, to the UAE, to Israel, everybody says, ultimately, we have to end the terrorism of Hamas, Iran and their proxies, and ultimately get to a two state solution where the Palestinian people have dignity and security, and autonomy. And Israel has their security and autonomy as well. And that's what the Biden administration is really working towards.
BARKLEY: Senator, you know, in Arizona yesterday where I live, they passed this -- the Supreme Court of Arizona passed a sweeping abortion bill from 1845. I know you can remember 1845, but do you think the government, the federal government or the states should decide on abortion?
BOOKER: I think this is a bit of a construction that it doesn't lay it as plain as we can imagine. Donald Trump put on the Supreme Court people that he said his main litmus test was the overturning of Roe v. Wade. And that has created chaos and suffering in our country that is unimaginable. States where you can literally put a bounty out for a woman if she's trying to get abortion care, or states like Arizona where they're reverting back to a law when slavery was still the law of the land before the 13th Amendment. This is insanity.
And for people who are survivors of rape, or incest, or who have serious medical conditions where abortion services could save their lives, we've created a country of chaos and suffering right now. That is all the result of what Donald Trump has done. And if he's president of United States and you don't think this is going to continue, listen to what he's saying.
There are leaders in the Senate right now. They're saying we will pass a national abortion ban. And if that bill is placed on his desk, I believe he will sign it and further set us back into the years of the 1800s.
BARKLEY: You know, most people who are successful have a great ability to quiet the white noise or loud noise around them. How are you and your fellow senators, like it's so much noise coming out of DC, how are you able to work your way through that every day because it's -- we get tired of chaos the American people do. How do you handle that?
BOOKER: You know, look, I still believe that we have a society that elevates this noise social media which has become so toxic. The way we talk to each other I think that since the time of Trump's election, we've seen violence and threats go up on senators, on judges, on election workers.
[22:10:12]
We really are in this period where this culture of contempt is threatening the truth of who we are. America is a good nation of good people, and we need to start having leaders that don't just deal with the debates of the policies of our day, but start to exemplify the best of human virtue. Because I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat, or Independent in this country, there are good folks all over the place. And what we're missing now is a call to the conscience of our country. Again, this ideal that we can be a nation where we have lines that divide us, but they're nowhere near as strong as the ties that bind us.
KING: Yes, I totally agree with that, Cory. Whether you're a Democrat or Republican, I do think that the vitriol is off the charts really on both sides. And we all have to play a role and figure out how to end that. But I want to talk to you about your basketball skills for just a second before you go.
Because back in 2014, I know you can laugh at this already. You said that you would, respectfully you said declined to play basketball with then-President Obama. You explained that you play a very physical style of basketball. I'm more of a Charles Barkley bruiser, and the thought of being tackled by the Secret Service is not something you said at that time that inspires you. What is it -- Charles Barkley is here listening to you with both ears. What is a Charles Barkley bruiser?
BOOKER: Well, first of all, this is -- I can't believe I'm about to this national TV. This is more about talking smack to President Obama, who is a competitor. In Joe Biden's inauguration, president -- the former president of the United States comes up here and talk smack to me about my basketball game.
KING: Oh, don't try and put it on the former president talking smack. You actually did take a little dig at Charles Barkley is the way I see it.
BARKLEY: No, he did not. He gave him a compliment, Gayle.
BOOKER: That's a compliment.
BARKLEY: Yes, that's a compliment.
KING: To be a Charles Barkley bruiser?
BOOKER: Absolutely.
BARKLEY: Yes, absolutely.
BOOKER: Yes.
KING: I don't think that sounded very good.
BOOKER: Oh, if you come into the paint, when Barkley is in the house or I'm in the house, you're going to pay a price for that.
KING: That's exactly right.
BOOKER: It's a style play. And for a finesse player like the president of United States, I got to protect our working relationship that we have. But I will stand by the fact that I play like Charles Barkley and we play rough, we play for keeps, we play for real.
BARKLEY: If you're the president play one on one, who's a better one player?
BOOKER: One on one between who?
BARKLEY: You and President Obama.
BOOKER: Listen, I'm going to say this on national TV. The reality is, the president's got great finance. He's got a great outside shot. But if he comes to me on a court in Newark, you asked Shaq about how we play. Well, you asked Shaq about how we play.
So I, you know, the president is on a different level right now. He's a former president of United States, I respect that. But if he comes into my house, it's a different kind of game.
KING: Cory Booker, a lot of woof tickets you're selling this evening. And Charles Barkley --
BOOKER: Listen, you know this, Gayle. I believe in peace and love, and gentility and kindness. But on the field, whether it's a football field where I played or the basketball court, you play to win, play by the rules but you play to win.
BARKLEY: Well, I tell you. Number one, I want to thank you for being here. I'm going to take the rest of the show and teach Gayle basketball terminology.
KING: I know basketball term. Next you're going to tell me the round mound of rebound is a compliment too.
BARKLEY: It is.
KING: OK, all right. Senator Cory Booker, thank you for joining us. Thanks a lot.
BOOKER: I appreciate you. KING: Coming up next, bye. You got five, we'll see you later. You're going to want to watch what happens live, "See What We Did There," that's the name of Andy show, when Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, AC squared, both join us here on set. We'll be right back. You're watching King Charles.
[22:13:58]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Anderson and Andy, they host New Year's Eve.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course.
BARKLEY: Yes.
KING: So if you could recommend another show for them to host or another event to host, what would it be?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I personally want to see them host "Cry (ph)."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Grammys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Golden Bachelor.
KING: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Olympic figure skating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you had a time machine, I'd say the eclipse any. Any show would they take a couple of shots in the middle of it is a great show.
BARKLEY: I can't believe in about haven't said the Oscars yet.
KING: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oscars would be good.
BARKLEY: Yes. Well, you didn't see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go to happy hour after the show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That was on the street today. So we're here's the question, is there anything our guests cannot do? No, there's nothing they can't do. We're going to play a little game called who has more jobs? First up our colleague Anderson Cooper, anchors two CNN shows and you're also 60 Minutes correspondent, so we share CBS in common.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Right.
KING: You're also host a podcast and you've written four books.
COOPER: Yes.
KING: Not to be outdone, Andy Cohen is a host and executive producer of his own Bravo talk show, the executive producer of 14 other shows including "The Real Housewives" franchise that I never watch.
ANDY COHEN, RADIO HOST: Yes, you do, Gayle.
KING: Andy has laugh at that. He's a radio host and he's written a bunch of books. Did I miss anything for the two of you? And they're both dads of two, Anderson, Andy --
COOPER: What is executive producer really do? I mean --
BARKLEY: Just get a check.
COOPER: Yes. I think that's --
COHEN: Oh, is that what I do?
COOPER: Yes.
COHEN: Can I just say, we do a Q&A before my show every night --
KING: Yes.
COHEN: -- and someone raised their hand the other day and said, did you ever consider being the Golden Bachelor?
KING: Really?
COHEN: Isn't that a little --- I might a little young to be the golden bachelor?
COOPER: I mean, sweetie, not really.
BARKLEY: Can I ask y'all a question?
KING: Sweetie, not really.
BARKLEY: The chemistry you two have.
KING: I love it.
BARKLEY: Like it's just -- that -- how long have y'all been friends?
COHEN: Early '90s.
COOPER: Yes, early '90s He had very ridic -- he had like crazy long hair and he wore like jean shorts-shorts. It was really embarrassing.
[22:20:10]
COHEN: And now I have short gray hair, and I wear jean shorts-shorts.
COOPER: Yes, yes.
BARKLEY: So I was totally shocked today when nobody said the Oscars. They had a bunch of good ideas but I think you guys will be great --
COOPER: I don't know?
KING: Really? I don't know either. Would you want do the --
COOPER: That's not a real -- that's even not an option.
COHEN: Yes.
COOPER: That's not that's never going to happen. The eclipse, that would have been far --
COHEN: That would have been better.
KING: OK. Did you guys watch it because I sat there, I was on a plane number one, so I didn't see it in person. Flight attendant handed me some glasses, but I recorded three different shows what they did on CNN, what we did on CBS, and what they did on ABC. And everybody who saw it had this deep, emotional, spiritual connection. And I sat there sitting, what's wrong with you?
COOPER: I heard Charles talked about this. He clearly did not have an emotional reaction.
COHEN: Dude, I loved it.
KING: No. Did you?
COHEN: Yes. Usually, I loved --
KING: Andy, that you felt like tears crying?
COHEN: No, no, no, no.
KING: No but I'm saying that people were saying it's so emotional. It's so magical. It's so spiritual. And so, I thought what's wrong with me because I'm not feeling it.
KING: I'll tell you I got pissed because while --
COHEN: I'm on a plane too.
KING: I know. But we saw it on television.
COOPER: Well, I brought my little son who's two years old and put glasses on. And his response was it looks like a banana which it did sort of look like a banana. But I was pissed because the school my four-year-old goes to, all day long, they were talking about the eclipse --
KING: Yes.
COOPER: -- but then I got an email from them at like 3:15 informing all parents, we are not actually going to show your child the eclipse for their own safety. I'm like, I wouldn't take him out of school to do that.
BARKLEY: Right.
KING: To see it. But did you understand why people would feel a spiritual emotional connection?
COHEN: What I felt was, it was a great feeling of community.
KING: Did you see it?
COHEN: I did. And in New York City, there were people gathered on all the streets. I was on a roof. And there were people on rooftops everywhere. And it felt like a communal experience.
KING: We didn't get one --
COHEN: -- positive thing.
KING: They said it great, though.
COHEN: With the glasses on, you could see it. My son was -- he thought it was so cool. It was beautiful.
KING: What did you see, Charles?
BARKLEY: A bunch of damn losers. Like, but I will tell --
COOPER: What did you do during the eclipse?
KING: Yes, what did you do?
BARKLEY: I didn't pay any attention. Now, I want (inaudible). If you don't show it to a kid, I can understand that. I think it'd be great for kids.
KING: Right.
BARKLEY: But if you like a grown ass person, and you built your day around the clip, you're a damn loser.
COHEN: Right.
BARKLEY: That's just my personal opinion.
COOPER: I know somebody who drove all the way to Texas --
KING: Yes.
COOPER: -- to watch. BARKLEY: So the damn losers, Anderson.
KING: But you're not going to see another one till 2044 --
COOPER: Which is just fine with Charles.
BARKLEY: I'm good with that. I'm good with that. Like I said, I can understand kids --
KING: Children.
BARKLEY: -- high school kids, if their science teacher wanted to do all that stuff. Maybe some -- college student was majored in something like that. I like a row folk drive and places talking about -- you talking about spiritual experiences they felt.
KING: But I felt bad because the people that saw it really felt it deeply. And I wanted to know why -- yes, you look at the pictures. I wanted to know why I didn't feel that. OK.
COHEN: Well, did you see anything from the airplane window?
KING: You could, you could.
COHEN: You could?
KING: You can see very briefly.
COHEN: OK.
KING: Very briefly.
BARKLEY: It was going to be dark --
KING: I saw the banana. I saw the banana.
BARKLEY: It's going to be dark tonight too, go outside. It's going to be dark. Just like an eclipse out there. It's dark everyday, Gayle. That's plenty stuff.
KING: Andy, I want to talk about "Real Housewives." I was only kidding when I say I never watched because I will text Andy. I watch it all different times.
COHEN: Very early in the morning I will get an outreach from Gayle.
KING: Then I'll ask him a question about something that's going on. But I heard here that Bette Midler, this is true, was very interested in being a host.
COHEN: She tweeted that. I think it was a joke. I think it was a joke.
COOPER: Did she ever reaches you?
COHEN: No, no, no, no. She's --
KING: But if she was interested, would you want that?
COHEN: Hell yes.
COOPER: Yes.
COHEN: Better Midler?
KING: Yes.
COHEN: She would be the grandom of Beverly Hills.
BARKLEY: I want to say this, Andy. First of all, you are annoying to him too?
COHEN: No, I don't. I'm not saying she's annoying, I love it.
BARKLEY: She is.
COHEN: She did --
BARKLEY: So people texts you at 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, when you're sleeping, because she feels like --
COHEN: Who said I'm sleeping? My kid wakes me up at all hours. I'm happy (inaudible).
KING: The beauty of a text, smarty pants, is that you don't have to answer it.
COHEN: That is correct.
KING: That's why you're (inaudible) like I found him.
BARKLEY: No. But, Gayle, gets up at 3:00, 4:00 in the morning --
KING: That's right.
BARKLEY: -- and she texts the whole crew.
KING: That's right.
BARKLEY: And I'm like, Gayle, none of us is up, but you don't like I have to go to work.
KING: But you don't have to answer it, Charles.
COOPER: When do you sleep? Do you want to get up really early?
KING: I get up at 3:24 every day.
COOPER: What time do you go to bed?
BARKLEY: I (inaudible) at 3:24.
KING: because I have a whole system, Charles, where the snooze goes off three times. I have a system if you don't mind. BARKLEY: I hate that.
KING: If you don't mind. And then I bathe, I have a whole system. It works for me.
COHEN: Yes, it does.
BARKLEY: Hey, Andy, can I ask you a question?
COHEN: Yes.
BARKLEY: When you started this Housewife thing --
COHEN: Yes.
BARKLEY: -- you know like -- he's like, OK, I think I got to show was going to be successful --
COHEN: Right.
[22:25:07]
BARKLEY: -- and honestly, it's become one of the most amazing things.
KING: It's huge.
BARKLEY: It's huge.
KING: Yes.
BARKLEY: Did you ever have any idea where you're like, OK, let's try this.
KING: Do you ever watch any of the Housewives shows?
COHEN: I do not.
KING: OK.
BARKLEY: But -- when I'm in Atlanta --
KING: But you understand it?
BARKLEY: I do. I brought that too in many places.
KING: Yes.
COHEN: No. When we started the Housewives, no. We didn't. I mean, I could -- I cannot believe the "Real Housewives of Orange County" celebrated its 18th birthday last month. And I thought what -- I remember when it premiered, my boss at the time, it was called "The Real Housewives." My boss at the time said, let's call it "The Real Housewives of Orange County" in case we do it anywhere else.
And I thought that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. We're not doing this show anywhere else. Well, here we are. COOPER: Or any of the original work.
COHEN: Yes.
COOPER: From 18 years ago.
COHEN: Yes, we still have some OGs, yes.
KING: No, I love the friendship between the two of you because it's long lasting, long standing. You both have two young children. And the beauty is that you guys were never partners. That's what I think is so --
COOPER: Yes, we're never hooked up.
COOPER: No, that, you know, that you were never partners. Although at first I thought you had. I thought you had but I know that you've always been very good friends.
COHEN: You thought that we had hooked up, Gayle?
KING: Yes.
COHEN: You did? What made you think that out of curiosity?
BARKLEY: Because I guess you say your close friends. Gayle, stop being nosey.
COHEN: Gayle, just so you know, I never thought you and Oprah hooked up.
KING: But -- and we did.
BARKLEY: Good job.
KING: Touche. That's not a good job.
BARKLEY: So?
KING: No, the difference is Oprah and I are not lesbians.
COHEN: That is true.
KING: That's the difference.
COHEN: That's is true. Although I famously asked Oprah on "Watch What Happens Live" if she had ever swum in the lady pod.
KING: Yes.
COHEN: And she said --
KING: She didn't know what that meant.
COHEN: Exactly. But she did say no.
KING: Yes. She didn't know what's that. But I've always --
COHEN: Did she say like, I'd love to have a lady pond (inaudible).
COOPER: That would be lovely.
KING: And she kind of thought what kind of flowers, I'm not kidding.
COHEN: Yes, right.
KING: Yes, I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. But the point I'm getting to is that you've been long term friends, you now have two children.
COHEN: Yes.
KING: Two and two. Are your kids close with you all two --
COHEN: Everybody's --
KING: -- are in place about that.
COHEN: They are buddies. And when we hang out --
KING: Because I love that.
COHEN: -- it's very sweet. I mean, and ---
COOPER: They're basically the same, his oldest son's a little bit older than mine, so.
COHEN: A year older. And now they're in different schools and stuff, but we try to get them together. And, you know, part of the thing when you have young kids is that you're really just trying to pass the time. And so, we have had a great -- I have had a great deal of fun passing the time with our children.
BARKLEY: What's the best thing and what's the worst thing about having two young kids?
COHEN: For me, the best thing is just the love and the hugs, and the, you know, and the glee at everything, you know? Just you know him the day of the eclipse, he kept saying, when is the Eclipse? When is it going to be the eclipse, he kept saying, When is it going to be the eclipse? And just seeing things through his eyes --
KING: And when (inaudible) through seeing it --
COHEN: Yes. And the worse is just the pain in the assness of it all. And it can be --
COOPER: Also seeing them together and develop a relationship with each other, that's like separate from me and, you know, there are other dad.
KING: So I would like that.
BARKLEY: So, Anderson, obviously your world is kind of crazy for the next, how you said 200 --
KING: 209 days.
BARKLEY: 209 days.
KING: Before the election, not that anyone is counting.
COOPER: Who's counting?
KING: Yes.
BARKLEY: Yes. Do you like -- obviously you say, I don't want to take my job haul, but it's impossible with the chaos that we have going on right now? Do you ever just like, hey, you know, what, can we just talk about issues, and not talk about all the noise and the extracurricular stuff?
COOPER: You're sure, yes. I mean, but it, you know, you can resolve not to talk about or even say the name, you know, the name that's out there. But, you know, inevitably even people say, oh, you know what, we're not going to talk about this today end up talking about it.
KING: Yes.
COOPER: And you can't, you know --
KING: It's unavoidable.
COOPER: -- it's just -- I've stopped trying to stop people from, in my private life, like discussing it, because there's no point. No matter what, people come around and start talking about it.
KING: Before you guys came, because all of us have done interviews, we pulled some clips from tense moments from our interviews.
COOPER: OK.
KING: Each one of us. So I'm curious about how you respond or how you handle that now. Yes, you'll get a kick out of this. We'll take --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: She talks a good game.
COOPER: She has hatred or --
TRUMP: The policies, I think her policies are bigoted because she knows they're not going to work.
COOPER: But you're saying she is personally bigot.
TRUMP: She is, of course she is. Her policies -- that her policies --
R. KELLY, SINGER: Stop it. Y'all quit playing, quit playing. I didn't do this stuff. This is not me. I'm fighting for my life. Tell me what the --.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't do it.
COHEN: You're blaming her for this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(INAUDIBLE)
COHEN: Hold on. Hold on. Shut up.
[22:30:00]
CHARLES BARKLEY, SPORTS ANALYST AND HOST: You really just been working on your game trying to get back your timing and condition really to be honest, correct?
COHEN: Yeah
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: When I saw that --
COHEN: I got an unfair edit there. I'm the only one losing my cool (inaudible).
BARKLEY: (inaudible) Well I asked Kevin that question. He gave me the one-word response everybody was waiting on something else and it was like 15 seconds. I like Ernest like I don't think he's gonna say (inaudible). It was great TV. I'm able --
Gayle, what in fairness yours was the best.
COHEN: What it means to Gayle and our colleague.
KING: No, but I thought yours was the best the way you went -- stop it. Because when that happens on television you realize that you're kind of out of control in that moment. There's nothing you can do about it. True?
COHEN: Yes, that was about 10 hours into --
KING: I know I know.
COHEN: -- Listening to a lot of (inaudible).
COOPER: Do you like in an interview like that with our girl? Do you like to spend time with the person beforehand to sort of try to develop some sort of rapport or do you prefer to just come in cold?
KING: I prefer to just come in cold.
BARKLEY: Had you ever met him before? KING: I did go and say hello to him, right? I had seen him at
different events, but I can't say that we knew each other but the thing -- the thing that was so interesting is that, because I called the next day just to check on him because I knew it had gone so off the rails. And they said he wants to thank you for allowing people to see his passion and his pain.
COOPER: Oh
KING: (inaudible) This was after it aired. (inaudible) Is that what he said? Wow, okay.
COOPER: No, just don't have delusional people around.
KING: Anderson, Andy, thank you so much. I know that you got a show. Anderson has a show, guys.
BARKLEY: You got a job, Gayle.
KING: So do I?
COHEN: Tonight I'm on Bravo. I'm in the Clubhouse. Gerard Carmichael's on my show tonight.
KING: Oh, wow. That's good. I like him a lot.
BARKLEY: I do too.
KING: That's a good guess.
COHEN: Thank you.
KING: When we come back, Charles' best friend.
BARKLEY: We're not friends Gayle.
KING: Okay. Charles' acquaintance. Shaquille O'Neal. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARKLEY: So we got Shaq on the show tonight, tall ugly guy you've seen him before?
UNKNOWN: Awesome.
BARKLEY: But you want to be seven-feet tall?
UNKNOWN: Personally, No.
KING: Why not?
UNKNOWN: Being part of the small diaspora? We can fit most anywhere.
UNKNOWN: I would like to be Yao Ming 2.0. I play college basketball and I had a 36 inch vertical leap. So I didn't have to be seven-feet tall.
BARKLEY: You've never seen a seven-foot person who was attractive?
UNKNOWN: Shaq pulled it off though.
UNKNOWN: If I was a seven-foot tall man, I'd want to be like Wemby.
BARKLEY: So you're saying Wemby's better than Shaq?
UNKNOWN: No. Shaq --
BARKLEY: I was getting ready to give you a hug, man.
UNKNOWN: Shaq is good. Webanyama is better than Shaq.
BARKLEY: I love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, TNT SPORTS ANALYST AND NBA HALL OF FAMER: When Michael Jordan told me that quote before you succeed you must first --
BARKLEY: He didn't tell you what to be (inaudible). I Like it.
Just admit it you didn't do them to sit on your ass during the summer--
O'NEAL: But you know what? And I got three out of four so (inaudible).
BARKLEY: Congratulations.
O'NEAL: All right, so don't worry about what I do.
BARKLEY: Okay I didn't rely on Kobe.
O'NEAL: I didn't rely on Kobe. Chuck you better google my finals numbers you talking about. Google me, Chuck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: No, I love that Google me, Chuck. That's right, Shaquille. Google me, Chuck. Our next guest here is great company in the NBA history on the TNT with, you know, this guy on the left without further ado. Let's welcome NBA legend. They call him diesel. They call him the big Aristotle they call him superman Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq, all eyes are on you this evening. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to "King Charles". We're so glad you're here.
O'NEAL: Hello Gayle, how are you?
BARKLEY: Look, can y'all get a picture?
KING: I'm really fine, Shaq.
BARKLEY: Somebody gave me this cake today.
KING: No, this is how Charles came to work today Shaq. Look at this dude. Somebody gave me a picture on a cake. Are you choking me? Can't believe this?
O'NEAL: I can only hear Gayle, Charles I'm sorry.
KING: Yes Say--
O'NEAL: What's up Chuck? I miss you brother.
BARKLEY: I'll see you tomorrow man. Hey Shaq You've been giving a lot of love to women's college basketball the last few weeks man going down to Angel at LSU, Caitlin--
KING: Yes.
BARKLEY: -- Juju, Don Staley and, Gino Arema and Paige Beckers. They had 19 million people watching that championship game
KING: Higher than the -- higher than the men's game.
BARKLEY: Yeah, unfortunately higher than the men's game.
KING: Yes.
BARKLEY: How did you fall in love this year with women's hoop?
KING: What was so --
BARKLEY: -- instead of the men?
O'NEAL: I realized that this was the first year that I was more interested in the women's than I was in a men's basketball. No disrespect to the men, but you know, listen, we've always had fabulous women players. Donald's a great player.
I got to watch Simone Augustus at LSU, Sylvia files, but this year it was just different. It was like, you know, 15 or 20 beautiful females really doing their thing and you know, I'm happy for women. I'm happy for women's sports.
[22:40:05]
But again, this is the first time that I said, you know what, I'm more interested in the women playing than the men.
KING: But Shaq, you know, it's interesting you say that because a lot of people felt this way. And when you talk to women basketball players, they said listen, we've been playing great basketball for a very long time. What do you think happened this year because it was very different this year and I'm trying to figure out exactly why that is do you think it was Caitlin Clark? Do you think it was Angel Reese? What do you think it was?
O'NEAL: Well, it was definitely what happened last year between Caitlin Clark and you know, Angel Reese. It was you know talked about and would have liked to seen that rematch in the final. But Caitlin Clark is a special player. She reminds me of a Steph Curry. You know a lot of times she takes those ill-advised shots that me and Chuck don't like.
But they go in not only do they go in, they go in consistently. And the way she plays the game. She's the true definition of a great player One that makes the players around her better. You know, not only was she making a great shot, she was making great passes and you know, she took her loss with humility, you know a shout out to the Iowa program, shout out to all the female programs Juju Watkins was a great player.
KING: Yes
O'NEAL: Yes, so, you know again kudos to the women, you know for you know performing at a very, very super high level and I'm happy for them. I'm happy for women's college basketball. It was -- it was very exciting. I'm kind of upset that it's over. I want to see more games.
BARKLEY: Shaq, you know, we had a special moment in the studio. Well, it's been over a month now since I haven't seen you guys in like a month. Tell us the pride of you giving your daughter the McDonald's All-Star Game jersey and I was then getting a chance to watch her play.
O'NEAL: I mean, you know all my kids play ball, but I said at my hall of fame speech that if she keeps it up, she'll probably be the best one in the family. I could remember taunting her when she was younger saying nope, you can't play. Nope, you can't play the boys. Nope, you're too young. She would get very, very upset so when I finally got her with her trainers and you know wanted her to play. She always wanted to outdo her brothers and sisters and you know, she's just a you know, fabulous player and she chose to go to University of Florida.
I'm happy, you know, I you know, I always tell my kids listen, we don't need another basketball player I want to you know, somebody that operates a hedge fund. I want I want somebody to be like the beautiful miss Gayle King there, you know, I want somebody to run a corporation.
But you know they decide to follow my footsteps and I don't really put pressure on them. But she's a hell of a player like she does things I can never do like she could really shoot. And she's really good at the free throw line.
KING: Oh, you know, listen. Well, you must give really good advice. You've got your daughter and then they describe you as an advisor to Angel Reese. What kind of advice do you give her? O'NEAL: Well, you know, I just you know, and you know me and Chuck we
go through this a lot a lot of time when we critique these guys, you know these youngsters and these females they don't understand that all the stuff that they're getting ready to go through. We are the masters of that. So I was just you know, telling her how to handle adversity, how to handle, you know controversy and you know with a person like her you don't really want to come and say do this and do that.
I would just come in and you know giving her encouraging words, you know Just telling her you know to hang in there because when you're the best player. And you play for a great coach like Kim Mulkey they stay on you, Phil Jackson stayed on me, Pat Raleigh stayed on me, Dale Brown stayed on me.
You know, Dave Maduro, my high school coach, stayed on me. All the coaches that I played for stayed on me because when you're the best player you're expected to do everything. So I just told her I said listen I know your coach is a little hard on you, but you have to accept it because you're the best player. You know just uh, you know move on from that.
BARKLEY: Hey, you know, Gayle. I'm going to, I hate giving this dude flowers. I'll tell you something. He's one of the most amazing businessmen I've ever been around. I was at the hotel a couple years ago. He says I'm going to a meeting. That's who you're meeting with. He says I'm bringing all my people together. I said, what do you mean? He says well once a year everybody I do a commercial for I bring them together and says hey, how can I make your company better? How can I make your company better? Shaq, what did -- what did that come from?
O'NEAL: Did you just give me flowers Chuck?
BARKLEY: I gave you flowers.
KING: It's his love language.
O'NEAL: Why? Why?
KING: It's his look. You two or something, you two or something you clearly love it love and admire each other you know.
BARKLEY: No, I almost killed him though
KING: When?
BARKLEY: No, no, let me tell you something. So, no, no, no, seriously though. What people don't even know is his mother, my mother and there's a lot of another crazy named Martha Corman. They were three best friends: my mom, his mom, and Martha Corman.
[22:45:02]
And he used to drive me crazy because my mom they went on like 12 vacations a year. And my mom was trying to spend money like Shaq, Mama. And I was like mama, I didn't make one third of the money Shaq made. They would take these 12 vacations a year. And I'm gonna tell you something.
KING: But why did you almost kill him?
BARKLEY: Because his man tell your mama to stop letting my mama spend money like that. His mom (inaudible). Okay, go ahead you tell what happened.
O'NEAL: What happened was -- What happened was we had a fight, you know, my mom my mom never interfered in my basketball affairs. We had a little altercation and a little fight one day. By the time I get to the locker room my uncle Jerome hands me a phone.
I'm like who's that? He's like it's your mother. So I get on the phone and Charles' mom was on the phone. You better not hit my baby I was like, who is this? She's like this is Charles' mama and my mom and both of them were laughing and I was like, huh? I was like mom, how you know, Miss Barkley. She's like we've been best friends for 20 years. Y'all need to stop that.
I already talked to Charles. You need to go in the hallway right now, shake his hand and give him a hug, So I was like I'm never gonna disobey my mama, So by the time I got in the hallway Charles is in the hallway laughing. I'm laughing and we just hugged and then I finally met his mom for the first time. And all the stuff that me and him do on TV, his mom and my mom would do the same thing. You don't know how to play no spade like they would play spades and play their cards.
BARKLEY: It was unbelievable.
O'NEAL: It's true. Yes, so, you know she was a -- a wonderful person and you know Charles is like the big brother I never had. I've always been the bully and Charles bullies me and it's fun and people ask me all the time Do you guys really hate each other?
The answer is no I could never hate Charles Barkley. He is a phenomenal young man. He's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He's very respectful. He speaks his mind. He never holds back and you know, you have to love and respect a guy like Charles Barkley and I'm honored to, you know, I've been retired for 12 years every Tuesday and Thursdays.
I've got to spend time with one of the greatest basketball players who I admired who I looked up to. Charles doesn't know this but when I was young the way he played my father made me play like him because Charles used his size. He used his body. He played mean so I tried to do everything that Charles Barkley did.
BARKLEY: Well, thank you big fella.
KING: So he said something nice. Do you have something nice to say?
BARKLEY: I want to say I just got a question. Why do you work so hard? Gayle, Let me tell you something. He does our show on Tuesday and Thursday. He travels every weekend dj-ing like year round.
KING: Yeah. BARKLEY: Why do you work that much? Because normally when people
retire they slow down but you work for TNT, but you DJ every weekend and you shoot commercials like ever on your spouse --
KING: Charles, you work too. Every time we are the subway you're screaming at the top of your lungs talking about subway. You work hard, too.
BARKLEY: Not like this dude.
KING: Okay.
BARKLEY: He travels every weekend to being a DJ now. They tell me he's great at being a DJ. Why do you work so hard in your spare time?
KING: Because he likes it.
O'NEAL: You know, I travel I mean I travel I -- I always worked in fear. And I can remember one time my father telling me if you don't work hard your mother will lose her house. My mom will never lose a house, but I'm always working like, you know, I don't have it, I don't have it, I don't have it like to take advantage of opportunities.
I like to, you know, show people, you know especially my children that you know, just you know, just work hard. I will retire the day you retire I'm going to retire but You know, I always want it well then I had a I had a kid I had a kid ask me one time he said How does it feel to be rich and I told him I said my definition of being rich and Charles Understands this.
My definition of being rich is being able to buy my mother whatever she wants. My mother is my favorite person. She'll buy me so much of you miss Gayle's intelligent and beautiful and you know can you know call me at any time and let me know what I'm doing wrong in a calm voice so I just you know work hard for my family. I just try to set, you know, examples.
KING: Yeah, there you go.
BARKLEY: Thank you big fella. I'll see you tomorrow.
KING: Shaquille O'Neal, sending you big love. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us.
O'NEAL: Thank you Gayle. I love you Charles. I hate you.
KING: "King Charles" will be right back.
O'NEAL: I love you, Charles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KING: We want to thank you for joining us tonight. We have to say this is our last show of our limited series. I know didn't you think time fly by, we've been on like six months. Didn't it fly by for you?
BARKLEY: It flew by but Gayle, I tell people you're the best.
KING: I say that about you too.
BARKLEY: You're so awesome.
KING: I say that about you too.
BARKLEY: And we got so many amazing people who work on the show behind the scenes.
KING: Yes. Yes.
BARKLEY: Yeah, I just want to thank everybody, You know, I don't want to say the names because I might forget somebody but the two biggest, pains in the ass of Nick and Ryan, and Kira and Bella and Shelby --
KING: Giselle, Reydant, Titus.
BARKLEY: Sidney and Titus, Titus, Titus
KING: Dot, Jamie.
BARKLEY: Yeah, but Titus is so annoying. Titus is the most annoying little man in the world.
KING: If you haven't noticed, your -- your love language is really putting people down.
BARKLEY: That's what you do. But you know what?
KING: But I but I know but I know what you -- you're somebody who deeply cares about people. Deeply cares about making everybody around you feel good. And that's something that you do day in and day out I mean, I think I think Shaq I'm pointing like he's over there. I think Shaq said it best in terms of how you treat people. You see the best in people and you want the best in people.
[22:55:02]
BARKLEY: And I just want like because I -- I do one thing I'm very sure of is I did something stupid like play basketball. I do I tell people like if you're a nurse or a teacher or fireman somebody who's in the armed service. A policeman that was to me like a real job. I did something stupid like play basketball. It's given me the greatest life in the world. But if you take yourself too serious, you need to take a look in the mirror.
KING: Well, I will say this I have loved working with you and something tells me Charles, this will not be the last, just saying, this will not be the last time that we're working together.
BARKLEY: Call me Gayle.
KING: Yeah, you got my number, you got my number. And congratulations, this man was nominated for a Sports Emmy. He's nominated. I'm excited for you. We will see you the next time whenever we see you. Thanks so much for being with us for the past six months. We had a blast. Take it easy
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
