NBA on TNT personalities Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith, on colleague Charles Barkley, who is on an indefinite leave of absence from the network following his DUI arrest in December:
Ernie Johnson: “As you can see from the shot, we are missing a member of this panel that you normally see, and that being Charles Barkley. … You all have heard what went on, and Charles has got some personal issues, and legal issues he’s got to take care of. He’s on a leave of absence from TNT at this time. And, I mean, we love Charles. He’s our buddy. Everybody on this crew does. And there are times you’d like to rear back and give him a kick in the butt, which is one of those times right now. But also we support him every step of the way.”
Kenny Smith: “I agree with you Ernie, I think the one thing — I don’t know if the biblical term is correct, but there is a chaotic moment, or a chaos moment, where you either you believe or you don’t believe because something happened in your life. I think Charles is at one of those moments where — how is he going to be remembered? How is he going to be remembered, as someone on the ancillary things, or the substance of who he really is? And from what we know — a great guy, great heart. Giving, caring, understanding. But when you go through these cycles, you can be remembered for something else. And he’s bigger than that, he’s bigger than this, and it’s the time now for him to get to this moment and grow, and move on, and be something better. And we look forward to seeing that.”
Ernie Johnson: “At some point, we will have Charles back here. Until then, we just wish him the best.”
Link to video found on Awful Announcing.
