It turns out Charles Barkley wasn’t joking when he called Shaquille O’Neal “Mr. Sensitive.” The legendary Inside the NBA crew has had their fair share of hilarious moments, but one particular episode pushed Shaq over the edge. Barkley once annoyed the Big Diesel so much that he refused to speak to his co-hosts for three whole days. “That was one of the funniest things… this dude was so bad, he didn’t speak to us for like three days,” Barkley recalled. But that wasn’t even the worst part.
That week, Inside the NBA barely had enough content because Shaq was too mad to contribute. Fast forward two years, and he was still holding a grudge. “Y’all laughing, that s— ain’t funny. I was mad that day,” he admitted to his friends. Even on his podcast last year, he made it clear—he still hadn’t forgiven Barkley. However, Ernie Johnson, who had a front-row seat to the whole fiasco, finally spilled the beans on what really went down.
So, what actually happened? According to Ernie, it all started when Barkley hijacked Shaq’s time during a sponsored segment. “Charles took all of Shaq’s time on a sponsored album,” Johnson revealed. But Barkley didn’t stop there. Just as Shaq was about to get his turn, Barkley snatched the spotlight back—because, of course, he had “something else to add for the fourth time.”
That was the breaking point. “And then when I get it back to Shaq, no, no, no, he wants to talk all the time… supposed to be one to two to three, not one to two and back to one,” Johnson recalled, laughing. While the crew found it hilarious, Shaq was fuming. “You didn’t realize he was so mad. Shaq was running hot,” Johnson added.
And the fury didn’t end when the cameras stopped rolling. “I remember that pregame show ended and Shaq immediately got up and went to the green room,” Johnson said. Kenny Smith and Johnson exchanged nervous glances, realizing someone needed to calm him down. But while they worried, Barkley did what he does best—he gave Shaq an exclusive nickname that stuck.
Shaquille O’Neal’s temper earned him the nickname
This event took place in 2019. And last year, Charles Barkley admitted that provoking the 7-foot Diesel is never a good idea. Shaquille O’Neal got so furious after being interrupted on air that he even threatened to throw a can at the 1993 NBA MVP. That’s when Chuck couldn’t resist and gave him the now-iconic nickname—“Mr. Sensitive.” But things only escalated from there.
Off-camera, Shaq took his frustration to another level, completely shutting out his co-hosts for over a day. “One of the great stories in Inside history. Shaq was so mad he didn’t speak to us the rest of the night or the next day and he was really mad,” Barkley recalled.
And according to Chuck, an angry Shaq is no joke. “I had to let it go… ‘Cause once he flips the switch to mad, anything can happen,” Barkley admitted.
Even Kenny Smith had to step in, warning, “Yo man, let it go because this dude is so hot right now.”
But Barkley couldn’t help but call it like it is. “I will tell you this about Shaq… He’s very sensitive. He makes us laugh because he can give you s—. But when you give him s—, he gets all sensitive.”
Thankfully, this kind of drama only flies within the TNT crew. Because anywhere else, nobody would dare test the Big Fella’s patience.
The post Ernie Johnson Reveals Hidden Details of Viral TNT Incident Behind Shaquille O’Neal’s Exclusive Nickname appeared first on EssentiallySports.
