News dropped on Thursday afternoon that Empire actor Jussie Smollett had been arrested by the Chicago Police Department. Smollett had been viewed as the victim of a hate crime, but on Thursday, a recent revelation that indicated Smollett orchestrated the events led to him turning himself into the police and getting arrested. Now, Smollett faces felony disorderly conduct charges stemming from his filing of a false police report, which could lead to 1-3 years in prison.
It’s been a whirlwind of a saga, one that reportedly stemmed from Smollett being dissatisfied with his salary on Empire. Hours after his arrest, the Inside the NBA crew — namely Charles Barkley — decided to riff on what went down, segueing from a discussion about NBA predictions into some jokes at Smollett’s expense.
Charles Barkley and Inside The NBA clowning Jussie Smollett pic.twitter.com/qnEHlTTrnT
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 22, 2019
Among the jokes that Barkley got off was a reference to the fact that Smollett allegedly wrote a check to the brothers involved in the attack, saying that if you’re going to break the law, leaving any sort of a paper trail is not wise.
“America, let me just tell you something,” Barkley said while his colleagues laughed. “Do not commit crimes with checks. Come on, man. If you’re gonna break the law, do not write a check.”
