Charles Barkley thanked basketball Hall of Fame center Bill Russell at Monday night’s NBA Awards, and Russell responded by giving the TNT analyst the middle finger on live television.

Bill Russell Flips Off Charles Barkley At NBA Awards 2018

Audience members clearly realized it, too, as they laughed amid the applause. Barkley was onstage with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to present Oscar Robertson with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and also paid tribute to several NBA legends when he got to Russell and thanked him. Russell later apologized for his gesture on Twitter, where he said flipping Barkley the bird was “pure instinct.”

SLIDESHOW: 30 Best Sports Instagrams!

Russell, who played his entire career (1956-1969) with the Celtics, has made that gesture to other people previously, however. Here, he did it to a cameraman during a game while sitting beside Chauncey Billups, and Kevin Garnett posted the photo on Instagram.

😣😣😣….⚰ AYYYYYEEE…. 2 of my FAV 🐐’s….

A post shared by Kevin Garnett (@tic_pix) on

Russell was an 11-time NBA champion, a 12-time All-Star and a five-time MVP. At last year’s NBA Awards, Russell told Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, Dikembe Mutombo and David Robinson he could still “kick their ass” if he really tried.

SLIDESHOW: 10 Highest-Paid Athletes

Fans on social media quickly started making jokes about it Russell’s middle finger toward Barkley:

Russell received the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Read more about:
Listen to the uInterview Podcast!
Get the most-revealing celebrity conversations with the uInterview podcast!
Listen now!