Charles Barkley responds to getting flipped off by Bill Russell on live TV

By Ross Kelly June 27, 2018 at 10:34am

While Charles Barkley takes issue with Draymond Green running his mouth at other NBA players, Sir Charles apparently has no issue with getting flipped off by a legend.

That’s what happened at the NBA Awards ceremony on Monday night as Barkley introduced Bill Russell as one of the legends in attendance, and the 11-time champion showed Barkley the finger, and not the ring finger.

(Note: The video and tweets below feature an obscene gesture.)

https://twitter.com/HeartofNBA/status/1011471350047956998

Russell certainly wasn’t telling the world how many rings Barkley won by holding up his middle finger, and Barkley seems to not have any problem with Russell’s joke.

Did Bill Russell need to apologize for flipping off Charles Barkley on live TV?

Barkley appeared on Jim Rome’s podcast on Tuesday and revealed getting flipped off by Russell was a great moment in his life.

“I thought it was one of the coolest things ever to happen to me,” Barkley said, “because Bill’s a mentor, he’s like a father to me and he does that to everybody. It meant a lot to me, because if you know Bill, well, I don’t even call him Bill, Mr. Russell, he is one of the best people ever.

“And I was laughing so hard I almost couldn’t keep reading, because I was just naming all the people at his table, before I got to give a award to Mr. [Oscar] Robertson, but I almost fell out of, I almost feel I was laughing so hard inside, because I didn’t want to stop, and interrupt Mr. Robertson getting his lifetime achievement award, but I thought it was pretty funny, no, I thought it was really funny and I thought it was hilarious.”

Barkley is certainly right that the 84-year-old NBA legend “does that to everybody,” as Chauncey Billups found out when posing for a picture with the Celtics great.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Beq58aYjker/

Maybe Russell just has something against NBA players with the initials of CB? If Chris Bosh meets Russell with cameras around, he knows what to expect.

In the case of flipping off Barkley, it was clearly a joke, but Russell apologized afterward.

Sorry everyone, I forgot it was live TV & I can’t help myself whenever I see Charles it just is pure instinct. @NBAonTNT @NBA #birdman #NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/0zQLvWhuKi

— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) June 26, 2018

But Russell then followed up that tweet with another showing that the jokes aren’t over.

Well this was PERFECT timing, when we got home today our very good friend had sent us a gift that was very fitting. @TwitterSports @espn @BleacherReport @usatodaysports @celtics @ESPNNBA #NBAAwards #Birdman pic.twitter.com/U3mt8glwdx

— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) June 27, 2018