Just in case Charles Barkley’s golf audience didn’t already know, the NBA analyst and Hall of Famer can’t stand Skip Bayless.
Barkley joined host Ernie Johnson as one of the analysts on TNT’s The Match coverage Thursday night, featuring Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce against Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on the golf course. During the broadcast, Barkley started discussing some of the NFL’s best pass catchers, putting Kelce in that category. But as he lauded Kelce, he also relished the opportunity to roast Skip Bayless.
“He’s the best tight end, it’s between him and Gronk as the best ever. And I don’t want to leave out Shannon Sharpe,” Barkley said. “I want one of those jobs where I can get a buyout for working with an idiot…What do you think Ernie? You think I can get a buyout for working with Shaq?”
Sharpe notably reached a buyout agreement with Fox Sports earlier this month, ending his near seven-year run as Bayless’s debate partner on Undisputed. The divorce was finalized after several tense on-air moments between Sharpe and Bayless in the preceding months.
“I wasn’t sure which idiot you were talking about,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I was taking that personally.”
“I’m just saying, if they’re gonna give people buyouts if they’re working with a damn idiot, I want one too!” Barkley joked before reiterating that he wasn’t talking about Johnson.
Barkley certainly wasn’t referring to Johnson as an “idiot” and he wasn’t really referring to Shaq as one either. The person Barkley was calling an “idiot” was undoubtedly Skip Bayless, he just used Shaq as an alibi.
Shortly after Sharpe’s buyout was announced, Barkley was on NBA TV covering the Finals and similarly joked about seeking a buyout for having to work with Shaq. Same joke, different audience.
Maybe Barkley sought to introduce a golf world that wasn’t as aware of his Bayless-hatred to his seemingly endless and one-sided feud. Barkley is almost universally beloved, Bayless is not. But Barkley’s past threats of physical harm and his incessant desire to jab Bayless with repeat jokes has become a little bizarre.