Charles Barkley pranked in Laurel-Yanny debate: ‘I heard doughnut!’ (vid)

One would have had to have sworn off the Internet entirely in recent days to not become at least tangentially embroiled in the Laurel-or-Yanny debate that has taken social media by storm.

Well, one Charles Barkley became unwittingly enmeshed in the deliberation of what is actually said in the now-famous audio file courtesy of a delightful prank pulled off by his colleagues the NBA on TNT crew.

Instead of the actual audio file being played, the word “doughnut” — one of Sir Charles’ culinary weaknesses — was being piped in to the Round Mound of Rebound’s earpiece.

The delicious prank was perpetrated during TNT’s coverage Wednesday of Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

“I heard doughnut!”

Shaq, EJ, Kenny & Chuck can’t decide between “Laurel” or “Yanny” pic.twitter.com/pnTgyFlKjj

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 17, 2018

“I thought I heard doughnut,” Barkley said, via philly.com. “I’m telling you the truth. I swear to you, I thought I heard doughnut.”

Producers played the audio snippet several times in a row as Barkley concentrated intensely.

“Y’all don’t hear doughnut?” Barkley asked his laughing co-hosts.

To use an utterance frequently employed by Sir Charles, that prank was “turrible,” at least for Barkley.