Gilbert Arenas Shocked To Learn About Matt Barnes' "Exortion Plot"

Gilbert Arenas was flabbergasted to find out that Matt Barnes got fleeced by an AI model on Instagram.

On a recent episode of The Gilbert Arenas Show, the three-time NBA All-Star was shocked to learn that Barnes was the victim of extortion by someone using artificial intelligence.

Barnes’ unfortunate incident became the topic of conversation when a viewer brought it up in the chat around the 41-minute mark of the podcast, catching Arenas’ attention.

“Matt Barnes got finessed out of $61,000?” Arenas said, as he looked stunned by the news. “By an AI snow bunny? No, y’all playing. What?! No, I don’t believe it.”

Arenas added that he would never get caught in a similar situation, “I’m the only person that can’t get caught by AI like that,” he continued. “You gotta show me something real.”

The former Washington Wizard continued to sit in utter disbelief as his cohost, Joshiah Johnson, read Barnes’ allegations out loud.

A Breakdown of Matt Barnes’ Extortion Plot

Now we know y’all are probably wondering how in the hell Matt Barnes got caught out there by an AI model? According to Barnes, last month, he was the victim of an extortion plot.

Per Complex:

Last month, Barnes said he was a victim of an AI-assisted extortion scheme led by someone who used AI-produced audio, video, and text messages that she threatened to leak to various outlets, including infamous gossip blogger Tasha K.

“The woman allegedly used artificial intelligence to create convincing deep fake audio, video, and messages that made Barnes appear unfaithful,” said Johnson. “Damn,” Arenas added. “If she did all that, she got to have pictures or something now. … I’m telling you right now, if I’m paying $60,000, I’m getting whatever you selling. And it ain’t going to be no, hey… For me to shush-shush. How you get catfished like that?”

Barnes Said He Would Sue Blogger Tasha K

Barnes went into details in a post on Instagram, revealing he was going to sue Tasha K, sharing the alleged AI audio and video that made it seem like he was stepping out on his girlfriend, Anansa Sims, who had already accused him of cheating earlier in the year.

In the video shared on IG, Barnes said, “I’m going to show you some receipts. This started July of 2023, my ex and I had split for about a month.”

The All The Smoke podcast co-host further explained that he began speaking with the woman while he was apart from Sims. He claims he started receiving threats to “expose” him from different numbers, and due to Sims being pregnant at the time, he decided to begin paying the person to keep his then-pregnant fiancée from getting stressed.

Barrnes further explained that he kept sending payments to his extortionist up until September 2024, and that he showed Sims proof of what was going on.

The alleged extortionist then sent what Barnes explained to be fake audio and video to Tasha K, accusing her of not doing her due diligence by fact-checking.

Barnes has yet to sue Tasha K, who was already found liable in a previous defamation case brought by Cardi B.

You can see reactions to the Matt Barnes incident below.