Charles Barkley breaks silence over CNN new 'King Charles' ratings flop as NBA legend launches foul-mouthed blast

CHARLES Barkley gave a foul-mouth response to his new CNN show flopping in ratings.

The NBA legend's live weekly TV show King Charles alongside CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King premiered last week.

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In April, it was announced that Barkley and King would be part of a primetime show on CNN and would be set to air every Wednesday night.

The program would be called King Charles and focus on plenty of topics, ranging from politics to sports.

Barkley and King's premiere of King Charles averaged 501,000 viewers in its 10.00pm ET timeslot last Wednesday, per Nielson.

That number was much less than the network's cable news competitors.

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The 60-year-old Barkley appeared with fellow Inside the NBA on TNT colleague Ernie Johnson on their podcast "The Steam Room" on Thursday.

And the NBA icon broke his silence over the King Charles ratings disappointment.

"These Nielsen people try to say our ratings weren’t great, but we won a certain demographic," Barkley said on Thursday.

He continued with his rant, saying: "Hey man, to my team, f*** them.

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"Don’t you worry about what people tell you about your ratings?

"Nobody knows what people are watching.

"They don’t!

"You got a group of people who get to dictate who gets hired and fired, and that’s the part that sucks about the Nielsen ratings."

Barkley then had a message for CNN and his colleagues who work on his show.

"I just want to tell my team, guys, do your best," Barkley continued.

"In anything you do in life, just do your best.

"Because there are a lot of systems in place that make no sense.

"The Nielsen’s are at the top of my list.

"But I really just want to tell my team…I just want to say thank you.

He finished his foul-mouthed blast by saying: "And f*** those Nielsen people."

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Barkley has been a star pundit on TNT's Inside the NBA since joining the show in 2000.

He joined the show next to Johnson and Kenny Smith before Shaquille O'Neal joined the cast in 2011.