He’s been called Superman, the Big Aristotle, Diesel, Dr. Shaq, Big Daddy, Shaq Daddy, Hobo Master, MayorMcShaq, and even the Big Cactus, among many others. Shaquille O’Neal has more nicknames than Sean Combs, and now we can add one more: The Big Voice of Reason. The NBA Hall of Famer, TNT analyst, and minority owner of the Sacramento Kings visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday in support of Responsibility.org and the effort to help police cut down on impaired and distracted driving. After all, Manny Shaq-iaou is also a reserve police officer in Florida.
Of course, there was also no way that someone as outspoken as Shaq would leave DC without being asked about President-elect Donald Trump, and so The Big Baryshnikov weighed in on this year’s contentious and divisive election.
“We have a process that’s been going on forever,” the NBA Hall of Famer told ITK on Wednesday. “And whoever wins, you just hope he does what he says he’s going to do. You know, candidate Trump promised a lot of people a lot of things.
“Now that he’s president-elect, you just hope that he can make the world a better place. He won fair and square. We have to give him a chance,” added O’Neal. “There’s no need talking about recounts and this and that.” (Via The Hill)
People are probably pissed off at Shaq now, tweeting terrible things at him, and most certainly telling him to “stick to sports,” as angry people always do when the sports people open their mouths. But it could’ve been worse. Wilt Chamberneezy could have offered to slam dunk illegal aliens back over Trump’s proposed wall.
Instead, he simply said that he’d turn both Trump and Barack Obama into “barbecue chicken” if they tried to play him one-on-one. Delicious. Keep it real, Big Field General.
