Charles Barkley continued his “I hate San Francisco” Warriors postgame show act by shouting at SF fans “I’m going to come to your house and f*** your mama!” But folks, this is just something he does for ratings and social media engagement.

The most amusing subplot thus far to your Golden State Warriors-Dallas Mavericks Western Conference Finals has been a supposed beef between TNT Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley and the city of San Francisco. KRON4 reports that Barkley proclaimed in a recent broadcast “We’re going to hell, I mean San Francisco” after the Warriors made the conference finals, adding, “I hate San Francisco. I just don’t like it… I’ve never had fun there.”

The antagonism continued in Tuesday night’s pregame and postgame broadcasts outside the Chase Center, as one fan caught an off-camera moment in which Barkley yelled at his Warrior fan hecklers, “If you don’t leave me alone, I’m going to come to your house and fuck your mama!” The obviously NSFW video is below.

It takes a special comic gift to tell people “I’m going to come to your house and fuck your mama,” and get a good laugh out of it. Barkley clearly has this gift. And while the “Charles Barkley hates San Francisco” storyline is generating plenty of media attention, it’s worth unpacking whether there is legitimate animosity here, or whether this is all a silly publicity stunt meant to jack up social media clicks, and make sure you stay tuned for the postgame show once the Warriors game is over.

TNT’s Inside the NBA is not a normal scores and highlights show, it is an intentionally frivolous, FM radio “Morning Zoo”-type broadcast full of yuk-yuk, slapstick skits. (The formula works, the show has won 15 Emmy Awards.) This particular “beef" started in the segment above from last Friday night, when the Warriors beat Memphis to advance to the conference finals, eliciting a silly hat-wearing Barkley to announce, “We’re going to hell, I mean San Francisco,” and “I hate San Francisco. I just don’t like it… I’ve never had fun there.”

How seriously should we take his exchange? Panelist Shaquille O’Neal asks Barkley, “You want to go to Alcatraz, Chuck?”

To which Barkley responds, “We going to visit your family? Family reunion?” This is the sort of manufactured rivalry and faux conflict on which this program thrives.

Fast-forward to last night, where Barkley is clearly enjoying himself, trolling the San Francisco fans.

During the postgame broadcast, victorious Dubs fans outside Chase Center are chanting “Chuck you suck!” (or perhaps a phrase that rhymes with it.) Barkley shouts back, “Y’all suck too!”

The high jinks continue when Draymond Green joins the cast (and they are clearly prepping him to join this cast full-time after he retires, he also excels at trolling). Ernie Johnson points out that Barkley said he disliked the area, and Barkley rebounds with "I don't dislike the area, I hate the area."

"The area hates you!" Green jabs back.

If this were genuine conflict, would TNT be gleefully posting each exchange in detail? Notice how Barkley makes no specific criticism of San Francisco, he just relishes playing a professional wrestling villain role with the fans.

This is not the first time Barkley has picked meaningless fights with a city's fans base. The whole thing frankly seems like a schtick, which TNT goads on by putting the broadcast booth right where the fans are. And oh, would the Warriors love for you to come back to heckle Charles Barkley for Friday night’s Game Two at Chase Center’s Thrive City (and pay concession-stand prices for any refreshments or t-shirts you may purchase while there).

Or if you don’t go, TNT would certainly prefer you stay tuned for the postgame show rather than switching the channel after the game, just to see how Barkley and the Warriors fans tussle with one another next.

Related: Warriors, Who Might Be Peaking, Make Easy Work of Mavericks In Game 1 of WCF  [SFist]

Image: @NBAonTNT via Twitter