Once again, Charles Barkley is pushing the boundaries of ‘gainful unemployment.’ We thought that the Cardi B comment at the Game 3 halftime show was Chuck being unfiltered as usual. A day later, he revealed his unapologetic motives behind that comment. During Inside the NBA’s first NBA Finals series, Chuck stopped by Dan Patrick’s show, where he confirmed he’s playing a little game of chicken with the network executives at ESPN.

Barkley made a racy joke about Cardi B’s appearance that instantly left the Inside Guys in hysterics and went viral on social media, drawing mixed reactions. Chuck, however, didn’t care for the criticism. Not only did he double down on his observation the following morning, but he went a step further when Patrick asked whether management had disciplined him. Chuck pretty much challenged ESPN to hand him his walking papers.

“Dan, I’m hoping they fire me,” Chuck responded to the former ESPN employee.

And while he was at it, he brought back his old retirement policy.

“I got six or seven years left on my contract that they know I got no chance of doing,” Barkley said on The Dan Patrick Show. “I would love for them to fire me and have to pay me for the next six or seven years.” 

Barkley signed a 10-year, $210 million contract in 2022 with TNT. After Turner lost the NBA media rights, Chuck almost retired. He only agreed to stay on his current contract, even walking away from a $100 million pay bump from NBC, when TNT licensed Inside the NBA to ESPN. Yet, Chuck is committed to not seeing the contract through to the end.

“I was talking to my agent, I was like, ‘What can I do to get fired, but they have to pay me for the whole six, seven years?'” Chuck told Dan.

Well, he didn’t confirm whether his agent told him to make a completely left-field comment about the Game 3 halftime performer, or if Chuck came up with that on his own.

Charles Barkley has a message for his haters

Charles Barkley’s financial logic is as brilliant as it is hilarious. Because ESPN now airs Inside the NBA, the guys are participating for the first time beyond their usual slate of Western Conference Finals games. From the get-go, Chuck has been pushing the sanitized boundaries of the Disney-owned network with his lack of filter. Because they now have Chuck in the Finals, which is taking place in Madison Square Garden with a powerhouse celebrity row, he served a viral moment.

As Cardi B commanded the sold-out arena, the TNT crew joked that they were competing with her for viewers’ attention. Barkley, unscripted as usual, famously quipped: “I don’t know if those B’s. Those might be Cardi D’s.”

There was no malice behind it, but he’s not retracting it either. Chuck is no stranger to on-air controversies. From complaining about TNT management’s lack of communication to blasting ESPN for their underusage of resources, he rarely holds back.

“There’s zero chance I’m going to be working the next six, seven years, ZERO,” Barkley said. “So I know if they fire me, they would have to pay me all those years. I heard through the grapevine that I make great money, so thank goodness for that.”

Chuck is also aware that he’s both loved and hated. “So if people don’t like me or don’t have a sense of humor, they can kiss my a**,” Barkley said.

And that was just the short of it. It went into more NSFW territory about his extreme weight loss from there. ESPN is resigned to Chuckster’s brand of humor. They’ve largely remained quiet and let him spill the beans to Dan Patrick.

Chuck and the crew were back as usual for Game 4, where he provided more no-holds-barred commentary on the Spurs’ squandering a 29-point lead, the largest in NBA Finals history.