During halftime of Thursday night’s Rockets-Lakers game on TNT, Charles Barkley opted to talk about the Jussie Smollett controversy instead of basketball.
During a segment where the Hall of Famer was supposed to name some possible NBA scenarios that had no chance of happening, Barkley instead said, “Two black guys beating a black guy up … Just thinking aloud.”
The obvious reference to what the Empire actor falsely claimed happened to him had Barkley’s Inside the NBA cohorts Shaquille O’Neil, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, as well as off-camera personnel, laughing nervously.
Barkley didn’t stop there and went on to allude to the $3,500 check Smollett allegedly wrote to the men who attacked him.
“America, let me just tell you something,” Barkley said. “Do not commit crimes with checks. If you’re gonna break the law, do not write a check. Get cash, man. I never use the ATM. Now, I heard you can only get $200. Gonna make a lot of stops at the ATM. Do not write checks when you commit illegal activity.”
Barkley also joked about the men buying all the items they used in the alleged attack in one place.
https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1098810571993034752
Barkley then tied comments Liam Neeson made about wanting to kill a “black bastard” into his rant. “Jussie, you wasted all that damn time and money. You know what you shoulda did? Just went up to Liam Neeson’s neighborhood. You coulda solved all your damn problems,” Barkley said.
Charles Barkley is HILARIOUS 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/3bTgSX2n9D
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) February 22, 2019
Smollett was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of filing a false report with the Chicago Police Department and now faces a felony charge of disorderly conduct.
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