Shaq on the wrong side
“But one thing you can say about Shaquille O’Neal is he always played the right way. That’s all I wanted to ever do, is play the right way. So I never took anything personally.” – Shaquille O’Neal
Television commentator and 15- time NBA All-Star Shaquille O’Neal overstepped the bounds of propriety when his favorite whipping boy, JaVale McGee of the Golden State Warriors finally had enough and spoke out against being abused on television. After years of taking abuse from O’Neal on pre-produced segments compiling his mistakes and lowlights as a back-up center in the league, McGee finally reacted. On a segment broadcast on Feb. 23, O’Neal’s production team put together a parody of the trailer for the film “Doctor Strange”, poking more fun at McGee. The player reacted in Twitter, and O’Neal responded by threatening him. This added more layers to the issue, since O’Neal is a Los Angeles police officer.
McGee added yet another layer showing his deep hurt when he called out on Twitter for O’Neal to “stop cooning”. This makes it a race issue. What McGee is implying is that, for the past years, Shaq has been catering to the humors of white people at the expense of a fellow African-American.
“For years now, O’Neal has indicted the intelligence of McGee. Perhaps it was unwittingly at first. Now, it’s intentional. Bloopers are funny. Mistakes are universal. But O’Neal has been relentless in his mockery of McGee, almost exclusively for his perceived lack of basketball IQ. He has turned a grown man into a caricature. He has aided in the undermining of a Black man’s capacity.... Even if we grant it that society has advanced to the point where it’s understood Blacks are just as intelligent, the history of this type of degradation has made this a sore spot,” wrote Marcus Thompson II in The
Mercury News, an arm of the Bay Area News Group. “It’s a chip on the shoulder many of us carry. It is a sensitivity especially present in many reared in rough neighborhoods and broken schools yet had to prove themselves as equal to make it. This is the byproduct of having to fight against centuries of indoctrination. This isn’t new, not even to sports.
Meanwhile, the Warriors came to their teammate’s defense. Head coach Steve Kerr and point guard Steph Curry both spoke out for McGee. Kevin Durant said: “Everybody can’t be Shaq. He’s (McGee) trying to make his money and enjoy the game of basketball and this perception of him now is that he’s a dumb player because he makes mistakes out on the court. Shaq was as---free throw shooter. He missed dunks, he airballed free throws, he couldn’t shoot outside the paint. He was bigger than everybody. He didn’t have any skills.”
O’Neal is undoubtedly one of the most popular players in NBA history, particularly with the strength of his offcourt marketing. In 1993, he became the first NBA player to sell over a million copies of a rap album, “Shaq Diesel”. He made terrible films, a horrid video games“Sh aq Fu”, and after retiring, became a television producer. He has been well- liked for his larger than life, fun- loving personality. But there has also been a dark side, like public feuds with his teammates, and other bad behavior, not to mention his own highlight reel of nonsensical quotes.
After Game 4 of the 2001 NBA Finals, O’Neal confused the media by saying “I don’t think we learned a lesson; I think it was a learning experience for us.” And after a visit to Greece as a Los Angeles Laker, he was asked about the historic Parthenon, and he replied “I can’t really remember the names of the clubs that we went to.”
When Yao Ming was about to be drafted and the media was making a big deal out of it, O’Neal made fun of Chinese people, going on-camera and speaking gibberish meant to sound like Mandarin, and making fun of dubbed Chinese martial arts films. He also promised to hurt Yao with his elbows, though Yao had never even met him. Without apologizing, O’Neal instead approached Yao’s parents at a game and complimented their son.
O’Neal has been in the wrong side of the law, too. The first documented case was the alleged assault of a waitress outside a bar in Orlando. O’Neal was apparently interested in the young lady, who did not reciprocate. He allegedly followed her outside during her break and put his hand around her throat. And when Kobe Bryant was under investigation for sexual assault, while he was being questioned by officers about the incident, Bryant said, “I should have done what Shaq does. Shaq gives (mistresses) money or buys them cars, he has already spent one million dollars.” The report went further to say that Bryant claimed Shaq did it to keep the women quiet. In a later interview, O’Neal said he never harbored ill will toward Bryant for saying those things.
In March of 2014, O’Neal allegedly “tackle punched” Robert Williams, who worked at the Turner Studios where O’Neal is a commentator, resulting in injury to Williams. In the police report, Williams said O’Neal also fell on him, injuring his neck and back. Shaq’s lawyer claimed it was merely “horseplay”, though Williams said he was a willing participant.
Everyone loves a good prank. But for someone who has embraced purposeful silliness, the nastiness is out of place. Considering his stature both as a physical and accomplished giant of the game, more is expected of O’Neal: more respect, more magnanimity, and more charity towards those who are not as gifted, but are striving as hard nonetheless. McGee is a professional basketball player in the NBA, and, as he himself has said, a grown man.