Shaquille O’Neal is upset over his name being smeared all over the media following his cameo in Netflix’s Tiger King. The former NBA star had already denied involvement with Joe Exotic – beyond visiting a zoo and taking a few photos – after his appearance raised questions. And he was pretty incensed at the beginning of the latest episode of his podcast, The Big Podcast with Shaq.
“Hi, my name is Shaquille O’Neal. I entered the world in 1972 but you came into contact with me around ’92,” he said. “So from ’92 to 2020, I’ve shown you charity stuff, real stuff. Every now and then I’ll do human stuff and get in trouble. But have I ever shown you that I would harm an animal, You a**holes!?”
The Diesel went on to explain that he’s never turned down a request for a picture from anyone, but him appearing in your picture or on your podcast doesn’t mean he’s your friend.
“So all you a**holes and stupid little idiots that got something to say, you’re not hurting my feelings,” he continued. “I love tigers, I really do. If I had the time to open up a zoo to myself and run it, I would. I’ve been to every zoo in the world.”
Shaq revealed having called Netflix over their adding footage showing him in the docuseries but also admitted that they were right in saying they didn’t need his permission as the information therein was already public.
He reiterated a previous statement in which he claimed he was simply visiting a zoo and had no idea what Joe Exotic was up to, adding that he stopped visiting as soon as he found out.
“Don’t treat me like I’m affiliated with this guy and hurting animals, I don’t hurt animals,” Shaq declared. “But I’ma hurt your a** if I see ya and you say something to me.”
