Of course you wouldn’t expect Charles Barkley to shy away from commenting or joking on Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor who prosecutors say staged an attack to make it look like he was a victim.
While on Thursday night’s edition of TNT’s Inside the NBA, Barkley started joking about Smollett after he was charged with disorderly conduct by filing a false police report. Then, with Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith chuckling and Ernie Johnson shaking his head, he launched into giving some advice related to Smollett, who allegedly paid the attackers with a personal check:
“America, let me just tell you something: Do not commit crimes with checks. If you’re going to break the law, do not write a check … get cash man!”
He later added that Smollett should have just gone to “Liam Neeson’s neighborhood,” a reference to a controversy this year in which Neeson admitted he had once hoped a “‘black (expletive)’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could – kill him.” after a loved one was attacked.
Johnson’s response: “We touched ’em all, right there.”
