Charles Barkley defended embattled Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson during a recent interview, saying that "every black parents in the South" hits their kids.
Barkley on Sunday sat down with Jim Rome for CBS Sports' "The NFL Today" to discuss the video of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee in an elevator and Peterson's child abuse indictment.
"I'm from the South. Whipping is ... we do that all the time," the former basketball star, who was born and raised in Leeds, Alabama, said. "Every black parent in the South is gonna be in jail under those circumstances. I think we have to be careful letting people dictate how they treat their children."
When Rome contended that it doesn't matter where someone is from because "right is right and wrong is wrong," Barkley disagreed.
"I don't believe that because, listen, we spank kids in the South," he said. "I think the question about did Adrian Peterson go overboard. ... But, listen, Jim, we all grow up in different environments. Every black parent in my neighborhood in the South would be in trouble or in jail under those circumstances. ... As far as being from the South, we all spanked our kids. I got spanked, me and my two brothers."
Rome maintained that there is a major distinction between child rearing and child abuse, and he ended the conversation.
Peterson allegedly beat his son with a tree branch back in May in Spring, Texas, after the boy pushed another one of Peterson's children, law enforcement sources told CBS Houston. Photos obtained by TMZ show Peterson's 4-year-old son with cuts and bruises on his body.
"He used the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up in East Texas. Adrian has never hidden from what happened," a lawyer for Peterson said in a statement obtained by TMZ.
Peterson was deactivated for Sunday's game, and his absence could be extended.
On Friday he tweeted a photo of a Bible quote about judging.