In honor of Earth Day on Monday night, the NBA on TNT crew pranked Charles Barkley by dropping a salad mixture onto his head. But moments later, Shaquille O’Neal took things to another level, attempting to force his co-host to eat the greens from his hand.
O’Neal in particular hasn’t been shy at poking fun at Barkley’s dietary habits in the past, often mocking him for his enjoyment of Diet Coke among other jokes about his weight.
An unsuspecting Barkley was showered with salad on Monday’s edition of Inside the NBA for the NBA Playoffs, which Ernie Johnson later explained.
“Hey Chuck, it’s Earth Day, so some field greens and kale for you.”
Barkley took the joke pretty well, hilariously adding that kale is “not even a real thing” and that it is just “overpriced lettuce”.
O’Neal then began to walk behind Barkley, playfully grabbing him around the neck with a handful of greens to try and get Barkley to eat the mixture.
“Eat it,” O’Neal jokingly said while holding the salad up to Barkley’s mouth. “Eat it right now, you want some ranch?”
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This moment led to Kenny Smith adding in with some jokes at Barkley’s expense.
“He’s never ate a vegetable. He never eats his vegetables, man. C’mon, eat some vegetables.”
The great thing about the Inside the NBA crew is that these kinds of jokes can happen without any of the cast members feeling slighted, which speaks to the tremendous chemistry that Johnson, Barkley, Smith, and O’Neal have built together over the years.
Credit to Barkley for taking the joke in stride. But it seems very clear that the rest of the crew is not quite done poking fun at his diet at this point.
