Charles Barkley roasted Jussie Smollett on Thursday night after more details of the racist attack he is accused of staging emerged, taking particular pleasure in mocking the actor for allegedly writing a personal, backdated check to the men he paid to beat him.

Speaking during his half-time coverage of the Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Lakers game, Barkley had his co-commentators on TNT in stitches after bringing the controversial case up.

They were discussing unlikely scenarios on the basketball court when Barkley steered the conversation towards Smollett mischievously.

'Two black guys beating a black guy up... Just thinking out loud,' he said, drawing cackles from Shaquille O'Neill and Kenny Smith.

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Charles Barkley (left on Thursday) mocked Jussie Smollett (shown right being bailed out of Cook County jail on Thursday) for allegedly paying his attackers with a personal check

Charles Barkley and Inside The NBA clowning Jussie Smollett pic.twitter.com/qnEHlTTrnT — gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 22, 2019

He went on: 'America, let me just tell you something. Do not commit crimes with checks.

'If you’re gonna break the law, do not write a check. … Get cash, man!

'I never use the ATM. Now, I heard you can only get 200 dollars … Gonna make a lot of stops at the ATM. … Do not write checks when you commit illegal activity.'

He also poked fun at Smollett's claim that his attackers were Trump supporters, asking his co-hosts of the basketball players they were discussing: 'What kind of hats they had on? MAGA hats?'

Smith was overcome with laughter.

'I can't believe you Chuck,' he said through giggles.

Barkley then married Smollett's controversy with that of Liam Neeson who came under global admonishment earlier this month after admitting that he once went out looking for a 'black b*****d' to beat up because a female friend had been raped by an African American man.

Barkley could not contain his amusement as he poked fun at the case during the half-time show

Barkley had his co-commentators, Shaquille O'Neill, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith in hysterics with his analysis

'Jussie, you wasted all that damn time and money. You know what you shoulda did? Just went up to Liam Neeson’s neighborhood. You coulda solved all your damn problems,' Barkley joked.

He also laughed over the fact that the brothers bought most of the equipment used in the attack from one store.

'Buy the face mask, rope and the thing in the same store? You think they wrote out that on the receipt. Face mask, rope, bleach?

'From the same store! They wouldn't even go to three stores!' he said.

Prosecutors say Smollett backdated a check for $3,500 to pay Abel and Ola Osundairo, two Nigerian brothers he knew who have both appeared on Empire as extras, to pretend to attack him on January 29.

Barkley's show, Inside the NBA, mocked up the check Smollett allegedly paid them and addressed it to 'MUGGERS' with the memo 'mugging supplies' written on it.

His alleged motive was that he thought being the victim of a homophobic, racist ambush would raise his professional profile and get him a higher salary.

While the Empire actor strenuously denies the claims and has vowed to fight back, his career has begun crumbling around him.

Smollett is accused of paying brothers Ola (left) and Abel (right) with a backdated, $3500 check to attack him on January 29. They are shown in surveillance footage buying the items they allegedly used to beat him

Barkley's show, Inside the NBA, mocked up the check Smollett allegedly paid them and addressed it to 'MUGGERS' with the memo 'mugging supplies' written on it

Jussie Smollett is shown in his mugshot on Thursday morning. The Empire actor handed himself in at 5am on charges of filing a false police report. Police now say he concocted the fake attack because he wanted a raise. Barkley joked that he should have gone to 'Liam Neeson's neighborhood'. Neeson, right, admitted earlier this month he once went out looking for a 'black b*****d' to beat up because a friend had been raped by a black man

The many celebrities who spoke out in support of him when the case gained attention last month have gone quiet and 20th Century Fox, the studio which owns Empire, is 'considering its options'.

The case has inspired countless memes and jokes online, with Smollett, once a sympathetic victim with the world at his feet, now becoming the laughing stock of the internet.

Prosecutor Risa Lanier laid bare the allegations in a press conference after the bond hearing

Prosecutors went to extraordinary lengths to lay their case bare for the public on Thursday after his bond hearing.

They claim to have evidence of him with the brothers before the attack, including surveillance footage of them all together in the days beforehand, in Smollett's car, plotting the stunt.

They also say phone records show the actor communicated with Abel on the night of the attack, afterwards and while the brothers were in Nigeria.

He is yet to offer an explanation for those allegations.

After being bonded out of jail last night, he went to the Empire set where he begged his cast mates to believe him, pleading: 'I swear to God, I did not do this.'

His defense has shifted its focus from the media to the Chicago Police Department which he says handled his case poorly.

The department, which has in the past been shamed for its handling of racially charged cases, insists its investigation was above board.

A parody of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's Nike campaign shows Smollett's face with the words: 'Fight back. Even if you paid them to jump you.' The Nike slogan has been changed from 'Just do it' to 'Jussie Do It'

Another meme shows Smollett's face on a Lion King poster where the title has been edited to 'Lyin King'. The two Nigerian brothers Smollett is accused of paying to assault him, Abel and Ola Osundairo, are featured in the bottom left corner of the meme

One Twitter user placed Smollett's head over a popular meme of a boy pressing a boot into his own head while pretending to be the victim

'Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system.

'The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election.

'The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election. Smollett's attorneys

'Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing,' they said in statement.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel choked back tears as he addressed the case on television.

'I'm upset about what he said about the city and how he used the city,' Emanuel told CNN's Don Lemon on Thursday night.

He accused Smollett of smearing Chicago as a city, but also placing doubt over genuine victims of hate and discrimination who will now fear coming forward because they might not be believed.

'You have put all those real stories at risk for your fake story, and that is not right,' Emanuel fumed.

Meanwhile the actor's co-stars and colleagues on Empire are said to be at odds over the case.

Smollett went straight to the Cinespace studio on Thursday after being released on a $10,000 bond.

He reportedly pleaded with his colleagues to believe that he did not pay two Nigerian brothers to attack him in a staged hate crime so that he could get a raise, as is alleged by police.

Some of the stars are 'f*****g furious' about the allegations and believe he should be fired for bringing shame to the entire production, according to TMZ.

Smollett, shown top left, plays Jamal Lyon on the show. The cast is still filming the final episodes of its fifth season but he was sent home from the set on Thursday afternoon after apparently showing up straight from jail to protest his innocence. Producers reportedly told him to leave because it was so obvious he had been crying that he could not go on camera. Neither Terrence Howard (left) nor Taraji Henson (right) the show's most famous stars, have commented since his arrest

Sidibe uploaded this image to her Instagram page on Wednesday. She deleted it on Thursday after the actor was arrested

Others, however, are standing by him and do not believe he is capable of concocting such an elaborate hoax.

The divide has led to 'arguments' on set, according to the sources.

20th Century Fox, which said it is 'considering its options' in light of the scandal, is yet to confirm if Smollett will continue to appear in the show.

He was sent home on Thursday without filming any scenes because it was so obvious that he had been crying, according to production sources.

Among the actors who appear to be walking back their support of him is Gabby Sidibe, Smollett's one-time roommate and one of his closest friends.

On Wednesday, before he handed himself in to police, she uploaded an Instagram post with the caption: 'I know him, I believe him, I stand with him.'

The post was a photograph of Malcolm X and a quote about the 'irresponsible media' which turns victims into villains and vice versa.

Sidibe had reposted it from one of Smollett's siblings' accounts.

The cast has not yet finished filming the final episodes of its fifth season. Smollett's scenes have reportedly been cut back in light of the controversy.

He is paid $100,000 per episode of the show and there are 18 episodes in the current season which earns him a paycheck of $1.8million.