Stephen A. Smith Directs Rant Toward Charles Barkley, Refers To Hall Of Famer As A 'Hypocrite'

Stephen A. Smith didn't hold back when responding to Charles Barkley, essentially calling him a sell out for being everywhere and having an opinion about everything.

Smith began his rebuttal with the always hilarious "I love you, but…" tactic, which seemingly allows one to be absolved of what they are about to say to someone - whether they truly love them or not. 

"That is my friend. That is my brother," Smith said of Barkley on his The Stephen A. Smith Show on Monday. "I love him dearly. I always have. I always will. He is as real and as authentic as it gets. And, oh by the way, weeks ago, when he was critical of me, as it pertained to my response to LeBron James, when LeBron James and I had our little spiel, Charles Barkley and I spoke on the phone. And what he said publicly is exactly what he said privately. That’s my guy, but that doesn’t mean I always agree with him. And it doesn’t mean that I’m devoid of the right to call him a flaming hypocrite when it’s called upon," SAS continued in response to Barkley warning that Smith may be "overexposing" himself. 

A hypocrite!? Oh, here we go!

EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG ABOUT STEPHEN A, EXCEPT STEPHEN A.

"Do y’all know how many commercials Charles Barkley does a year? He’ll tell us two. Have you seen Charles Barkley in two commercials? Are you kidding me? Oh, by the way, the cat that you work with at least twice a week during the NBA season is Shaquille O’Neal. Can we count the amount of endorsements he has? How often he’s seen everywhere? What new product he’s pitching? Did you say that about him? No, you didn’t. But when it comes to me, I need to be ‘careful,' Smith continued in a "WTF?" type manner.

Stephen A. then took offense to OutKick's Dan Dakich, who asked Barkley about Smith's recent infatuation with politics. That includes talk of Stephen A. Smith thinking about running for U.S. President.

"Wasn’t it Charles Barkley, who made news for years, talking about his aspiration to run for the Governor of Alabama?" Smith asked on his podcast. "Because that’s where he’s from, after starring at Auburn and all of this other stuff. Wasn’t that him? I mean, it amazes me how people can say some of the things they say sometimes. It absolutely, positively blows me away, because I’m not the one with commercials everywhere. I’m working!"

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Smith then took things from being funny to being offended, into then being passive-aggressive, into then being just aggressive in general, saying that it's everyone else's fault if they have an issue with him, and nothing that he's done himself. 

"Can we really, really get to the heart of the matter?" Smith asked his audience. "And this isn’t directed at Charles Barkley. This is directed at all the folks out there. I’m making people very uncomfortable, and I don’t give a sh*t. You can sit there and talk about people not taking me seriously all you want to; we’ll see. Because I’m a serious brother, that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to laugh and smile and have fun, but I know who the hell I am!"

BARKLEY DOESN’T SUPPORT STEPHEN A.'S POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

During a wide-ranging interview on Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich, Barkley was asked about his forthcoming deal with ESPN now that the NBA on TNT crew will be heading to the Disney-owned network.

"I make too much money to get fired… if they fire me, they've got to pay me for seven more years, and I'm going to quit way before then," Barkley added. "If they want to fire me, I would love for them to do that." 

"Nobody at ESPN is going to tell me what to say or do. Period," Barkley concluded. And as far as Stephen A. Smith running for President? "Hell no!" Barkley responded. 

Meanwhile, it appears that nobody - including Barkley, is going to tell Stephen A. Smith what he can or can't do. 

And around and around we go. Sports media is truly like professional wrestling these days. 

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