In a new interview, the 50-year-old basketball legend addresses a social media spat with the embattled rapper, who slammed him on Twitter after he criticized Kyrie Irving amid his anti-Semitic scandal.
- Nov 24, 2022
AceShowbiz - Shaquille O'Neal is proud of himself about how he handled his Twitter back-and-forth with Kanye West. In a new interview, the 50-year-old basketball legend addressed the social media spat with the embattled rapper earlier this month after the latter dragged him in a Twitter post.
Shaq told PEOPLE that he could have responded to Ye's tweet in a fiercer way, but the thought of his mom stopped him and prompted him to take the "classy" route instead. "If I make a statement, I have the ability to travel through time and watch my mom as she watches it on TV," he said.
"So I don't say [what I really want to say] because she'd get upset. She'd say, 'Baby, stop it,' " the NBA superstar continued. He added that if his mom Lucille Harrison "wasn't here, I'd be f**king reckless. I really would."
Shaq added, "I like to play. But if it ever gets personal, I'm coming to see you. I don't do the little kid games. The fact that [Ye] messed his whole life up - he did it. Nobody else did it. These narcissistic people, when they mess up it's everybody else's fault."
The legend went on to admit that it takes one to know one when it comes to narcissists. "I'm a little bit narcissistic [too]," he said. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm probably a 2; [Ye] is an 8 or 9. A lot of people just can't take accountability. He threw it all away being arrogant and cocky, so now he wants to throw everybody else's business dealings under the bus?"
Ye went after Shaq after the former athlete criticized Kyrie Irving, who promoted an anti-Semitic movie, on TNT's "Inside the NBA". On the show, Shaq called the Brooklyn Nets star "idiot," adding that the point guard wasn't "conscious" and didn't care who he offended.
In response to that, Ye, who also faced his own backlash over anti-Semitic remarks, took a jab at Shaq and his business dealings with Jamie Salter. He suggested in a tweet that the NBA Hall of Famer was being duped by the Canadian billionaire and owner of Authentic Brand Group, a brand development and marketing company.
Shaq caught wind of the insult and fired back in a tweet which read, "Believe me you don't know me like that. Worry about your business, and to quote the once great Kanye west ' I got more money than you so why would I listen to you' take my advice get your family business in order. Have a great day brother."
