Former NBA star Matt Barnes accused of lying to Kamala Harris about KKK by Jason Whitlock

In a video on YouTube, controversial conservative pundit Jason Whitlock has accused former NBA player Matt Barnes of lying to Vice President Kamala Harris in a recent interview Barnes conducted.

Barnes spoke with Harris for his “All the Smoke” podcast along with co-host Stephen Jackson.

In that interview, Barnes opened up about racist terrorism he witnessed firsthand in Sacramento — when the former NBA player claimed the Ku Klux Klan came to vandalize and nearly burn down his high school after he defended his younger sister, who was being verbally abused . .

Barnes has been telling this story for years, something that Whitlock recognized, but on his show “Fearless” he tried to debunk that story.

“Wow, the KKK went after Matt Barnes in Sacramento, California in 1998,” Whitlock said on his show. “Something in the journalist in me said, ‘Man, the KKK in 1998? Went after Matt Barnes in California?’

Barnes (center) interviewed Kamala Harris on his “All the Smoke” podcast and retold a story about how he and his high school were targeted by the KKK after Barnes defended his sister

“Now I’m from Indiana. The KKK was strong in Indiana. 30 minutes from Indianapolis in Martinsville, Indiana the KKK [was] very strong. But that’s me, an ’80s guy.

“Matt Barnes talks about 1998 in California, the KKK came after him. This is unbelievable,” Whitlock said before playing a clip from about a month ago in which Barnes explained how a Klan member in jail “green-slapped” him for beating up another child in defense of his sister .

“They wanted Matt Barnes dead for a high school fight. This is incredible, this is part of movies. Look at Matt Barnes, his life is on the line as he protects his sister,” Whitlock said in disbelief.

After two more segments – including one from Vice News – Whitlock continued: “He’s been telling this story since 2014, he’s now telling it in front of the vice president. it’s the centerpiece of Matt Barnes trying to establish himself as a political figure.

“He’s been talking about running for political office…Matt Barnes has big political ambitions and he’s building this racial narrative that he’s the next John Lewis, the short-term congressman who died and is on the bridge in Selma , Alabama and thus drove to politics. current.

“There’s a gimmick and a plan, and I’m not calling John Lewis a gimmick and a plan, I’m talking about what we’ve seen today, there’s a pattern here of the ‘mixed nuts,’ the interracial kids, the biracial kids who who are looking for their ‘black moment’, who want to be the next Colin Kaepernick, who want to be the next John Lewis. They all wrap themselves in racist victimhood.

‘And so also in Vice [clip]they showed headlines of that day. I wish they had read the newspaper articles from 1998 because they contradict Matt Barnes and the story he has been telling since 2014 and the story he is parading around everywhere. Matt Barnes spoke very differently in 1998.”

Whitlock points to an April 1998 issue of the Sacramento Bee, which quotes Barnes saying he didn’t think the fight he got into was “a racist thing,” as evidence he was lying.

Whitlock then showed an article from the Sacramento Bee claiming that “hardcore racism may have very little to do with [the] attack on Del Campo [High School]… Interviews with Del Campo students, administrators, sheriff’s deputies and Barnes indicate that this time racism is an excuse, a cover for something more childish than disgusting.”

That article also included a quote from Barnes, who said, “I don’t think it’s anything racist. I haven’t really had any racial issues in four years at Del Campo. I’ve had them when we visited other schools, but I expect that. This is more about other things, about me being a jock and hanging out with friends who are jocks. Some children don’t like that. We’ve had some problems.’

Whitlock pulled out another article from the Sacramento Bee highlighting how Barnes was involved in multiple physical altercations when he was a senior at Del Campo — including when he broke up a fight.

‘Let me just pause on that: Matt Barnes says this whole incident was caused by “oh someone called my sister the n-word and I went out and beat them up.” The 1998 newspaper article states in real time that “the latest incident occurred last week when Barnes broke up a fight.”

“This is what was written in 1998, this is what was said in 1998. The story is very different now. I’m reading the article and there’s another article, you can go look for it yourself… there’s no mention of this mannequin with Barnes’ sweater on a noose. No mention is made of this. No.’

DailyMail.com has reached out to Barnes through his podcast production company for comment on this matter.