Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal already explained his appearance on the controversial Netflix documentary series “Tiger King,” but not everyone was satisfied with his answer.
Most notably, his NBA on TNT co-hosts Ernie Johnson Jr, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley recently pressed O’Neal to explain his relationship with Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic.
"Way to take the whole team down, @SHAQ” 🤣
The Diesel clears the air on his association with Joe Exotic, and Chuck still wouldn’t stop roasting him on the latest episode of ‘The Steam Room' podcast. pic.twitter.com/cWjW1u6nF2
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 10, 2020
“Well how much time did you spend with Exotic Joe? That’s what America really wants to know,” Barkley asked O’Neal.
O’Neal then happily broke down his experience.
“Remember when OKC (Oklahoma City Thunder) was playing San Antonio?” he began. “You guys were flying, but I was driving. So on the way there, on the highway I saw a sign that said, ‘Tigers.’ So I went. That was the first time I went. I went, said hi, gave them some money to give me a couple white tigers.”
O’Neal continued to explain his second time visiting the controversial animal park.
“Then I think we went to Oklahoma City one more time, so I only saw Joe once,” he said. “The second time I went he was like, ‘Hey man, we don’t think you should come back, a lot of stuff is going on,’ and I never went back.”
To close out the story session, O’Neal went into detail describing Maldonado-Passage.
“I ain’t gonna lie,” he said. “When I got there, his hair was done, he had on eyeliner. He was like one of those performing artists at a circus.”
While O’Neal did admit that he had a good time visiting the park, it is also clear that he probably would have preferred if his likeness had been left out of the documentary.
Next time, he’ll surely be a bit more careful when he spots a billboard advertising tigers on the side of the highway.
