A month after NBA All-Star Shaquille O’Neal shared a snapshot featuring himself, Ice Spice, Taylor Swift, and friends at the Super Bowl, the NBA legend has finally spoken on his viral comments about the rising New York rapper.
Shaq complimented her in the post, saying the 24-year-old was “so damn fine.” Critics have since labeled the father of six as a dirty old man, pointing out the age difference between him and the Bronx bombshell, who is younger than his eldest child.
After rubbing elbows with the “Shake It Off” sensation after the game, the basketball luminary shared their encounter the next day on social media. The 52-year-old expressed how hyped was to meet the “Munch” rapper and captured the moment on Instagram with him standing alongside Ice Spice’s producer, Riot, and Jamie Salter, the mastermind behind Authentic Brands Group, which acquired Reebok in March 2022.
Shaq and Salter share a professional tie; Salter appointed the baller as the newly named Reebok president of basketball. Shaq is the second-largest individual shareholder in Authentic Brands Group.
The two gifted Swift with an NFL Judith Lieber bag, but that was not what sent ripples throughout social media. It was what he said in the post that had people doing a double take.
“Unc smoking on durk and gurk that caption is foul,” one person wrote under the photograph, as another wrote, “Shaq hungry.”
Many people online joked that Shaq must have been “hacked,” believing there was no way he could have written such words. Either way, Ice Spice approved and liked the post.
The athlete-turned-podcast host confirmed that he wasn’t hacked on the latest episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq.”
“The reason why I put out the post with Ice Spice, not ‘cause I was trying to flirt, but I didn’t really blow her off, but I just wanted to show her some respect too,” Shaq explained on the latest episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq.”
He shared that Jason Kelce, the brother of Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, helped introduce him to the pop star. The Hall of Famer said he left his suite and went over to Swift’s during halftime to bring her bag when he saw the young rapper. He said the picture and caption was his way of showing her “some respect.”
“So me and my partner Jamie Salter … we go down and I take a picture and I see her. Ice Spice is fine as f–k by the way. She’s really hot. So I just took a picture and I come back. She was nice, very nice.”
He continued, “I just made it real quick. I asked her, I said, ‘Have we ever met before?’ She said, ‘No.’ And then reason I put out the post with Ice Spice, not ’cause I was tryna flirt. I didn’t really blow her off but I just wanted to show her some respect too.”
The 7-foot-1 athlete said there was so much discourse about him meeting the “Love Story” singer that he didn’t want Ice Spice to be left out of the discussion.
“So had to come back and say, ‘Oh yeah, and by the way, this little woman is fine too,'” he explained, insisting that he was not trying to push up on her. “You gotta understand Shaq don’t, I don’t flirt like that.”
People hated that answer, doubling down that he was trying to send a bat signal to the redhead, hoping she would swing his way.
“A chick your kids age,and that’s your final answer Shaq!!” one person said, while someone else warned, “Shaq you starting to look like Diddy mane you better leave the young bucks alone.”
“Respect? nah you wanted some of Annie and that’s okay! She is fine asf” another comment read.
An X user was wondering why people were so shocked considering the athlete’s track record, “This ain’t new tho if you know bout Shaq Now his grown big a– talm bout Ice Spice fine a–, big fella really just needs something meaningful All young nggas find your wife now or this gonna be you with a lot less comfort money.”
This ain’t new tho if you know bout Shaq
— Fire&Ice (@FireIce845018) February 18, 2024
Now his grown big ass talm bout Ice Spice fine ass, big fella really just needs something meaningful
All young nggas find your wife now or this gonna be you with a lot less comfort money 🤧 https://t.co/17vsjZ9Eyg pic.twitter.com/G9tnT3ku1S
Shaq has a history of being seen with or shouting out pretty young faces in their DMs and once people call him out, he claims he’s just extending a friendly gesture.
In June 2023, he was spotted at dinner with fitness influencer Brittany Renner. Days later when a Christian influencer, dubbed “The Home Depot Girl,” went viral for being too pretty to work at the store and had to allegedly quit because of all the attention, Shaq slid into her DM and offered her some support. However, many thought he was trying to flirt, after she posted his words of encouragement on social media.
“Don’t let them people bother u,” O’Neal wrote. After she replied, “Thank you,” he added, “Don’t read the comments stuff like that will drive you crazy. Have a great day tell all your boyfriends I said hello lol.”
Shaq DM’d the Home Depot girl 😭 pic.twitter.com/jqda28GZIu
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 11, 2023
Shaq also recently made headlines after talking about the dating rules for his daughters, girls Taahirah, Amirah, and Me’arah, ages 27, 22, and 17, respectively. The NBA Hall of Famer will not allow his daughters to date until they have their master’s degrees and when they are 24. But the rules are much different for his sons, Myles, 26, Shareef, 24, and Shaqir, 20.
If Ice Spice were Shaq’s daughter, she would only partially be in the clear, according to his logic. She is 24, but she doesn’t have a graduate degree.
