- Shaquille O’Neal was briefly featured in the first episode of the Netflix documentary series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness.”
- On his podcast, Shaq explained that he had visited the Oklahoma zoo featured in the show on a few occassions because he loved tigers, but he did not have a relationship with the now-infamous Joe Exotic.
- “Listen, people are going to make their own opinions, but, again, I was just a visitor. I met this guy – not my friend. Don’t know him,” O’Neal said of Exotic. “Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on.”
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NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal made a fairly surprising cameo in the first episode of Netflix’s documentary series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness,” leading some fans to question the extent of his relationship with the now-infamous Joe Exotic.
The show, which gives viewers an inside look at the culture of a private zoo, features Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, as its centerpiece in a wide cast of unbelievable, yet compelling, real-life characters. But with Exotic currently serving a 22-year federal prison sentence on two counts of murder-for-hire and 17 charges of animal abuse, some basketball fans were left wondering how close O’Neal was with him.
@SHAQ bro you gave a shout out to Joe Exotic. Please take it back. Even if you already took it back, do it again. Please. For me.
— dani (@danidtweetz) March 21, 2020
On his podcast, "The Big Podcast with Shaq," O'Neal explained that while he was a fan of tigers, he was not close to Exotic himself. O'Neal said his first encounter with Exotic came out of curiosity after seeing a sign for a tiger sanctuary while driving between Dallas and Oklahoma City.
"So we go in there, and it's a beautiful place, and the character that was there was Exotic Joe," O'Neal said. "We're there, and I dropped some donations for the tigers' foods and all that. We take pictures with [the] tigers. We went back a couple times. Then we go back another time, and we found out that he's involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going."
"I don't harm tigers," O'Neal said. "I love tigers. I love white tigers. Do I put donations to these zoos to help these tigers out? I do it all the time. Do I own tigers personally at my house? No. But I love tigers. Listen, people are going to make their own opinions, but again, I was just a visitor. I met this guy - not my friend. Don't know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on."
Shaq is a larger than life character in his own right, but for basketball fans, it's likely comforting news that his relationship with Joe Exotic was minimal.
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