By this point, you have probably heard of the great Yanny vs. Laurel debate of 2018. But on the chance you don’t spend much time on the internet, here’s the deal: A short audio clip that went viral on Tuesday sounds to some people like the word “Yanny” and to others like “Laurel.” Over the past 24 hours, there have been various attempts to explain the phenomenon, but no matter how much you read about it, it remains pretty freaking weird.
Anyway, on Wednesday night, the Inside the NBA crew on TNT attempted to tackle the debate, playing the audio several times and then asking each member of the show’s panel to weigh in.
Shaq said he heard both but mostly Yanny. Ernie Johnson said he heard Laurel. So did Kenny Smith. And then Charles Barkley chimed in: “I thought I heard ‘donut.'” As everyone else laughed, Barkley insisted he had heard the word “donut.” When they played the clip again, he insisted on “donut.”
If Chuck screwing up a one-or-the-other question because he was thinking about food seems too good to be true, well, it was. See for yourself:
So yeah, the whole thing seems to have been a prank on Barkley, whose earpiece was rigged to blast “donut” into his ear. It turns out he actually is a Laurel person. But we’ll always have those 30 seconds when Charles seemed to have submitted his most Charles Barkleyesque moment of all time.
