Metta World Peace Disses Charles Barkley & Makes Interesting Comments on Jason Collins

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Twitter can be such a dangerous place for a celebrity and other times just a great platform to take shots at other celebrities. Although many would say the latter could be dangerous for a celebrity’s career. Either way, athletes tend to get themselves caught up in controversy simply by the things they tweet. And when it comes to the very outspoken Metta World Peace (Ron Artest), these sentiments couldn’t be any more true. The Los Angeles Lakers star didn’t take too kindly to some of Charles Barkley’s most recent comments on his team’s lackluster season, and when Barkley reportedly suggested the Lakers are now too old to win a championship, Artest took to his Twitter account to slam Barkley and refute his claims. In the end, Ron would say that Charles Barkley doesn’t know what it takes to win a championship because he hasn’t done it. He tweets (read from the bottom up):

Ouch. Ron Artest also had something to say about Jason Collins’ coming out. As we reported recently, Jason Collins made history for being the first active NBA player to come out the closet. Although Artest showed support for Collins’ brave revelation, he somehow managed to compare coming out the closet to wearing Cookie Monster attire and not being judged for it. He tells reporters:

“Whether it’s a free country or not, you should be free to act and do as you want to do, as long as it’s not violent. I came here in a Cookie Monster shirt because I wanted to. And I was going to wear the pants but I thought you [media] guys were going to judge me. And I was going to wear the hat, too, but I figured you guys would judge me…. I should have wore it. You should be free to do and act how you want to act.

“When you feel comfortable with yourself, not only does it make you a better person…. It’s unnecessary stress, as we all know, if you’re holding things in,…It can just bring unnecessary stress to your heart, to your mind and when you can release it and talk about it, you feel better. And that’s how it should be with anything, not just coming out if you’re gay or if you have a mental issue and whatever other issue or stigma there is out there.”

Once we got past the Cookie Monster comparison, we have to admit, he makes some very good points.