NBA legend Charles Barkley, who now works as a television analyst on TNT Sports and CBS Sports, pivoted to the treatment of immigrants under the Donald Trump administration during CBS’s March Madness broadcast about the NCAA. The basketball Hall of Famer gave his views on the immigration crackdown after a feature on University of Connecticut star Alex Karaban, whose parents are immigrants.
Charles Barkley talks about US immigrants
Legendary basketball star Charles Barkley spoke out against the treatment of US immigrants during his appearance on CBS’s March Madness broadcast. During Sunday’s broadcast, the two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee did a feature on University of Connecticut star Alex Karaban, whose parents immigrated from Eastern Europe. Following this feature, Barkley pivoted to talking about immigration.
“I want to be very careful with my words right now. Because this is a really touchy subject for me,” the legendary Basketball player said (via HuffPost), “I love that kid and his family, but the way some of these other immigrants are getting treated in our country right now is a travesty and a disgrace.”
“I think there’s a difference between amazing immigrants and criminal immigrants, and I think what’s going on in our country — what we’re doing to some of these amazing immigrants ― is really unfortunate and it’s really sad,” he continued. “And that’s a great immigrant story — we have a lot of great immigrant stories out there, whose stories need to be told. But some of the stuff that’s happening to immigrants in our country right now is really unfortunate and is really unfair. But immigrants built this country, and we should admire them and respect them.”
Host Nate Burleson seemed to be moved by Barkley’s take on the subject. He said, “Chuck, I love you, bro.” Barkley’s comments come on the same week in which Americans took to the streets in “No Kings” rallies to protest Trump’s mistreatment of immigrants, the ongoing Iran war, and other issues plaguing the United States.
Just two weeks before the Masters, uncertainty surrounds Tiger Woods’participation at Augusta National. After the golfer made his season debut in Tuesday’s TGL match, there’s a slight possibility for his return. But a passing remark from Donald Trump has since cast doubt on whether Tiger Woods will actually tee it up.
Donald Trump talks about Tiger Woods’ return
During an appearance on Fox News’ The Five on March 26, Donald Trump was asked who he’d be rooting for at this year’s Masters. His response suggested that Tiger Woods will not be in the field as a competitor. “I love Tiger, but he won’t be there. Well, he’ll be there, but he won’t be playing in it,” Trump said. The comments carry added weight given the personal connection between the two. Woods is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr.
When pressed to pick a winner, the president declined, noting the caliber of the field. “They’re just great players,” Trump said. “It’s hard for me. If I pick somebody, I’m going to have enemies, I’m going to have 10 guys who won’t speak to me.”
Woods had earlier offered a measured update on March 24. It was following his TGL appearance, where his Jupiter Links GC squad fell to Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala, and Tommy Fleetwood in the championship match. The outing was his first competitive action since tearing his Achilles in March 2025. “I’ve been trying,” Woods said afterward. “This body just doesn’t recover like it did when I was 24 or 25.”
Despite the physical challenges, Woods made clear his affection for the tournament that has defined much of his career. “I want to play. I love the tournament. I love being there since I was 19 years old. I’m going to be there either way,” he said. Woods’ path back to Augusta has been complicated by a lengthy medical history (via Golfweek).
The golfer last competed in a traditional tournament on July 19, 2024, when he failed to qualify at the Open Championship.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
Madison Chock & Evan Bates Are Welcoming a New EraHearst Owned
It’s one week after the Olympics when I chat with Madison Chock and Evan Bates. In a time where most athletes would slow down, look back at their journey, and figure out their next steps, the husband and wife ice dance duo are ramping things up. They tell me that they have a premiere later that night, followed by some other NYC stops before they head to L.A. for the Oscars. After that, they’re taking a quick trip to Japan where they’ll perform on the Stars on Ice Tour before returning to the States to travel around the country for the U.S. version of the tour. It’s not their first time getting to do all of this. With this being their fourth Olympics together, they’re total pros. But there’s certainly an extra set of eyes on them—and the sport of figure skating—after the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina.
Before the current season even started, Madison and Evan were considered the favorites to win it all. However, a surprise came in March 2025, when France’s Guillaume Cizeron announced a new partnership with Canada’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry, setting up an obvious rivalry. (There’s also additional controversy surrounding the partnership due to their individual relationships with their former partners. Guillaume won gold in the 2022 Olympics with a different partner.)
After the team portion of the figure skating competition was complete (Team USA took gold), the two duos faced off in the individual discipline portion. Shockwaves shook more than just the figure skating world when Madison and Evan were scored eight points lower by a French judge in the free dance than Laurence and Guillaume, who placed first despite very obvious mistakes. Madison and Evan would win the silver medal, but it felt like the whole world was asking for an investigation. There was even hope for a rematch between the two teams before the season’s official end.
It won’t happen at the World Figure Skating Championships, which is taking place this weekend in Prague. The husband and wife duo posted on Instagram after their final Olympic skate with a statement writing, “We left it all on the ice in Milan. Our season feels complete with those four performances where we delivered our best.”
Off the ice, the couple have also made very distinct moves in recent years. Evan was voted by Team USA as the male flag bearer at the closing ceremonies for the 2026 Olympics, an honor for the skater, who has also become a mentor and leader for his fellow athletes over the years. Madison has been creating costumes not only for herself and her husband but also for other teams, including some of her own competitors.
It all feels like a natural and poignant stopping point for the three-time World champions, three-time Grand Prix Final champions, four-time Four Continents champions, and nine-time Grand Prix gold medalists. Oh, and they also won U.S. Nationals a record-breaking seven times.
But that doesn’t mean the questions have stopped: What are they doing next? Are they retiring? Is this the end of “Bock” as we know it?
Madison Chock and Evan Bates reveal to Cosmopolitan their hopes for the future, why it isn’t the last time you’ll see them at the rink, and the secret behind their relationship both on and off the ice.
We have to start with the very obvious question. You haven’t used the word “retirement,” so what is the future looking like for Chock and Bates?
Madison: I don’t think retirement is the word, because we’re definitely still gonna continue and be involved in skating. I think maybe we’re just transitioning to a different phase of our skating career. We decided to pull out of Worlds. We were really happy with how we performed at the Olympics and wanted to leave on that feeling. It felt like we had our four greatest performances at the Olympics, and we feel just complete with that experience.
What has it been like to navigate this experience because to me, as a fan who follows the sport every single year, it does become this phenomenon every Olympic year?
Evan: I think the mindset around the increased attention is just gratitude for interest in what we do. We put so much work into those four minutes on the ice, and knowing that there are future Olympians watching—little kids at home who maybe have never skated—that might see and connect with us and want to try skating or want to get into their own journey is really inspiring. I remember being a kid and watching the Olympics and hoping one day to be there. So I think that’s the magic of it. It unites the world and inspires the next generation.
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There was a lot of talk online after the ice dance event of hopefully getting an investigation going after you came in silver. What was it like to hear all that support for you as a team?
Evan: Certainly the support was incredible. We were disappointed, honestly, in one regard, and that was about the result, but we were so fulfilled with the performance and with everything that we did leading up to it. When you attach yourself so much to the outcome, and then the outcome doesn’t go your way, it can be devastating. We’ve worked really hard to distance ourselves from the identity of ourselves only as figure skaters.
Based on what we heard from so many people, that resonated also, and I think there’s a real silver lining in the inspiration and example that you can set for other people in difficult, challenging times. I hesitate to say difficult times because we won a silver medal at the Olympic Games. That is something that we are so proud of and we shouldn’t overlook or downplay the magnitude of that accomplishment. We’re super proud. Three-time Olympic medalists. The way we skated, that is the biggest victory of all. We couldn’t have asked for more. And that also played into the decision to want to finish this season on that note.
Does it feel like because so many fans just tune in during the Olympics, some of your other accolades get erased sometimes?
Madison: Certainly for many people in the sport, and die-hard fans, nothing is really erased, but that’s just the nature of sport. It’s so fleeting. There’s always going to be that next young athlete coming up, that next young team. We’re really fortunate to have had the longevity that we’ve had. But people will move on to the next exciting skater and I hope that they do, because that’s what keeps the sport alive. So we’ll be right there cheering with everyone else for those young athletes coming up.
Evan: Even if we had won double gold, it goes away. People move on. We move on. Skating isn’t going to last forever, obviously. And now we’re going to take it and apply it to whatever’s next.
I do want to go back to the team event because—remembering what happened back in the 2022 Olympic Games with the Russian doping scandal and having to wait until 2024 to get your gold medals—it was a highlight getting to see you receive those medals as any other athlete would.
Madison: I think that event in particular, too, will go down in history as one of the most exciting. We’ve done a lot of team events before, and it’s never come down to the wire like that: just one point separating gold and silver. It all came down to the last few performances. I felt like we were living a movie. Japan just brought their A-game, and we had to just bring our A-plus game. I was so proud of everybody.
Evan: It really was a true team effort and a team event in every sense of the word. Every performance mattered, every point mattered. It was thrilling.
And Evan, for you, getting to cap that all off with being the flag bearer at the closing ceremonies, which is not only voted on by your fellow Olympians, but also feels very poignant considering how much you also have advocated for your fellow skaters over the years.
Evan: That was such an incredible honor. I was not expecting that. It’s hard to put into words kind of what that means. Madi and I both just value being good people and treating others well. We’ve learned through sport the kind of character that we want to uphold and what we want to represent. It’s a natural extension to take people under our wings, to see these young skaters who, frankly, we love. They keep the world so fresh.
I remember my first Olympics, the older skaters who I looked up to being nice to me, hanging out with me, and making me feel welcomed. I’ll never forget that. I think that’s where it started. I want to pay it forward and treat other people well. Even if we’re not in the Olympics in four years, we’ll be there cheering everybody on and will always continue to be part of this community.
Madi, you’ve also gotten to flex your other skills with your costume designs this season. I feel like you’re giving Lisa McKinnon a run for her money.
Madison: Thank you! I love it! The creative process, especially for costumes, is my favorite time of the season. I love diving into our story or other skater stories, and working together in collaboration to come up with something that will make them feel good. I think that’s so important to look your best and feel your best, so that’s my goal: to encapsulate the story that they’re going for and the essence of who they are as a person, so they feel comfortable and confident when they take the ice.
In ice dance, it’s really funny because people are always trying to guess everyone’s dating history with one another.
Evan: I love that people are like,We need to know if they’re dating, married, or divorced or exes.
Yes, and y’all have stood the test of time together as both ice dance partners and romantic partners. What is the secret?
Evan: I think just liking each other. Spending so much time together and always still enjoying each other’s company. The fact that we are very different people is helpful to us. We always have had a lot of contrast on the ice and then off the ice as well, in different interests, points of view. That’s what makes us unique and special as a team. I wouldn’t want it any other way than to be with somebody who challenges me. I think we’ve really rubbed off on each other pretty nicely.
Madison: I think we both also share that growth mindset. When we approach anything, it’s with the intention of how can we be better people, better partners and we share the love of just growing together. That’s a really strong foundation for any relationship.
Evan: The creativity is maybe our favorite part, you know, coming together at the beginning of the season and having autonomy and creative choice over what we want to do. Ultimately, I think that’s the greatest gift that we’ve been given by our coaches and our creative team over the last eight years or so, and I think, I hope, I wish that for all young artists is to take control of your art and find your voice and the ability to express yourself through your medium. I think that is what we love, and the fact that we get to do it with each other and that we love each other and what we do…it just multiplies it and makes it even more special.
Madison: I don’t think there’s any other competitive sport in the world that you can really have that type of ownership, creativity, and storytelling in an athletic performance. That’s what’s so special about skating, and what really draws people in is that artistic side, the creation. You see people putting their heart and soul into their program and picking something, hopefully, that’s really true to who they are.
Madi, you’ve also been a huge part of this recent rise in women who are unafraid of showing how skating can be hot. We saw it with Ashley Wagner and now we’re seeing it with you. It’s very refreshing to see.
Madison: I feel so empowered by figure skating. There’s nothing better than the feeling of gliding across the ice and being in the hands of my partner and it being my husband allows for so much freedom and self-expression as a performer. When the music comes on, it’s really fun to just slip into that role and be whatever character the music calls for. Skating can be traditional and beautiful, but there’s also a rawness to it. It’s fun to let that shine through and not try to be so perfect every time. When you let go, there’s more room to play, more freedom. And with that comes a sensuality, a confidence and I’m feeling so in my zone. I have no inhibitions.
There is a joke going around that fewer teams will be participating next year as it will be the first time in six years that the rhythm dance is going back to an actual rhythm pattern: the golden waltz. Did you have a preference between the general themes of the past few years to the dance patterns?
Evan: I think the challenge is it can be really hard to be creative when the technical rules are really demanding, especially in a rhythm dance. It’s just jam-packed with elements, and you might have just a few seconds to connect things together. It becomes just a really technical program. I get it. It’s a sport, and we need those kinds of criteria to establish the fact that we’re a sport and not just a show. But the creativity is the most beautiful thing about figure skating and ice dance in particular.
You also have those programs that feel like watching a different team, especially with your exhibitions that are much more in the moment.
Madison: When we have the freedom that an exhibition program gives us, it’s really more open, and it’s about the performance, and the emotions and the feeling that you create on the ice.
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You’re gearing up for Stars on Ice right now. It does feel significantly different this time thanks to a new hype around figure skating.
Madison: I agree, and it’s so exciting. I think skaters have long awaited this renaissance of figure skating to come about, and I’m so happy that it that it has, because there’s so much talent right now. Especially within Team USA, this is probably one of the best teams that we’ve ever had, as far as accolades and individuality, creativity, personality. That’s why our our sport is thriving so much. There are a lot of skaters just truly being their authentic selves when they step on the ice and feel that freedom. That energy is contagious.
Evan: I think it’s also going to be a celebration. That post-Olympics tour is always a huge release from all the stress and the pressure that every skater is under during that quad and building up to that Olympic moment. It really does take so much of your mental, physical, emotional bandwidth to really execute it and do it. And Team USA was great and came through strong. I know it was a roller coaster. It was hard to watch some performances. Some performances were storybook. Coming together, we’re going to do almost 30 shows and going to be on a tour bus together. We’re going to get lots of times to bond and just spend time together and celebrate everything that everyone has accomplished.
Speaking of the quad, it feels like after every Olympics, we say goodbye to so many greats. But this time, if this is your last time on competition ice, it feels like the end of an era for ice dance.
Madison: I think we’ve been feeling that for the past few years. Every time we go to competitions early in the seasons, we’re like, Oh, my goodness.
Evan: Particularly the Grand Prix and Nationals. You go to the final, you go to Worlds, you’re like, Okay, there’s a couple other people who are over 30.
Madison: It does feel like the transition has happened and we maybe are the last of that changing of the guard. We see that the people we used to compete against are now on the other side of the boards coaching our competitors and so that’s really where it’s all coming full circle. Now we’re taking a step back and going to the other side of the boards to help these young skaters as well. It’s been really lovely to have that kind of integration of our competitors as coaches, because we have worked with some of them. We’ve worked with Madison Hubble, we’ve worked with Jean-Luc Baker, and we feel their knowledge and point of view from them going from competing to transitioning into their coaching roles, and it’s been really fulfilling for us to be able to share that experience with them and bond in that new way as like coach and student in a way. But we’re friends. We grew up together. Sharing the sport in a new lens with them is really, really beautiful. That’s what sportsmanship is all about—it is to have that kind of relationship with your competitors where you can turn to them for advice at a certain point. To be able to experience that has been really lovely, and hopefully we’ll be able to give back to the younger skaters in that way as well.
What do you see the future of ice dance being like?
Madison: I hope people keep challenging themselves and pushing the creative boundaries. This is gonna sound cheesy, but if you can dream it, you can do it. I would love to see more risks being taken with creative choices and maybe the use of technology in our sport for judging to help take some subjectivity out of things. Skating is subjective, and that’s what’s beautiful about it. Maybe for the technical aspects, we can utilize AI or the tech that we have to kind of offload how much of the score is being reliant on the subjectivity of judges.
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Speaking of the future, so many of us have been so inspired by this new generation of skaters, especially Alysa Liu. How have they inspired you?
Madison: I personally feel so inspired by Alysa. I think her take has been so refreshing, and we have had the privilege to witness her from her beginning, retirement—which is crazy to say—and then her big splash right back into the skating world. Just seeing her love and her intrinsic motivation for doing it for herself, because she wants to, because she loves it, because that’s her creative outlet, also rekindled something in us.
At one point we just fell in love with skating and wanted to be the best at it. It’s really so special when you find a passion like that and you’re able to pursue it and enjoy the journey. It’s not going to be fun every day. But if you show up and do the work and and learn to trust the process, you’ll always come up on top.
Final question: No audience, just the two of you on the ice, what would be the program you would skate to again to end everything on?
Evan: I would probably say just to do Chopin again, our first free dance.
Madison: Maybe we should do a show program to Chopin…
Evan: To close the circle and come back to it would be really fun.
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