Charles Barkley is not exactly know for choosing his words carefully on the air. He makes jokes he shouldn’t, he trashes great players and shares analysis that doesn’t always make sense.
And sometimes he swears with the cameras rolling.
On Thursday night’s Inside the NBA, Barkley recalled talking to Spike Lee about the New York Knicks, commenting that, “He don’t want to watch this shit.” Host Ernie Johnson condemned the slip-up, while Shaq offered to pay the FCC fine. Barkley got a little sheepish and apologized to Turner Broadcasting president David Levy.
Then Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace joined the show for an “Area 21” segment, and Chuck was really made to suffer. Garnett joked about the “cuss button,” which he had sent over to Barkley, and someone behind the scenes punished the analyst’s potty mouth with a poop emoji.
Maybe next time TNT should wash out Barkley’s mouth with the (sadly nonexistent) soap emoji.
About Alex Putterman
Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.