Before the 1994-95 season, Charles Barkley attended an Eric Clapton concert. During the show, the basketball legend applied some hand lotion, but things quickly went wrong. After accidentally rubbing the lotion into his eyes, 'Sir Charles' soon felt the unpleasant consequences. It doesn't take a doctor to know this was a big mistake for the Hall of Famer.
"I never really had any vision loss. It's just that my eyes were on fire. It burned the first layer of skin off my eyes. They say you have about 20 layers of your cornea, but whatever I put in, it burned the first layer off, " explained Barkley, per the Washington Post.
Barkley's concert calamity
It's safe to say that 'Sir Charles' had different plans for his evening when he went to see a concert by the English rock and blues legend. Clapton, famous for songs like 'Tears in Heaven,' 'Cocaine,' and 'Layla,' was on tour in the U.S. at the time.
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns , the team of the reigning NBA All-Star, were gearing up for the upcoming season. However, when their first game against the Kings rolled around on November 4, 1994, their star player was only seen sitting on the bench in street clothes.
On one hand, Barkley had already been doubtful for the season opener due to a strained stomach muscle. On the other hand, his unavailability was also affected by the aftermath of his strange hand lotion mishap. In the end, the Barkley-less Suns were blown out by Sacramento, losing 107 to 89.
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A perfect target for mockery
The reason Chuck started rubbing his eyes with lotion was due to the bright stage lights, as he later revealed. Shortly after returning home from the concert, he felt the brunt of that: the 1993 MVP couldn't see properly, resulting in him being rushed to the hospital. There, an ophthalmologist ordered the 6'6" forward to wear eye patches for 12 hours. Later, Barkley was seen wearing wraparound glasses with orange lenses before boarding his team's flight to California.
"It was a chemical reaction to a type of lotion that he uses," the team doctor, Richard Emerson, explained at the time . "I wouldn't anticipate it'll reoccur because I don't think he'll use that type again."
Unsurprisingly, this story later became a target for jokes during a 2017 episode of TNT's show 'Inside the NBA.' During the segment, the analysts discussed their strangest injuries, with Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith sharing relatively harmless stories.
However, when the incident involving the third member of the group came up, the studio erupted in laughter and teasing. In response, Chuck simply explained again what had happened before adding that he still had a "great time at the concert." It seems like this kind of thing could only happen to the legendary Barkley.
Related: "An All-Star if he learned two words: 'I'm full'" - Charles Barkley on his former Suns teammate
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