Shaquille O’Neal has escalated his ongoing beef with Shannon Sharpe with a recently released diss track. The big man even took matters up a notch by tagging several celebrities on the post to gain their support. However, his endeavors to counter the former NFL star were met with some unexpected opposition as Gilbert Arenas mocked Shaq for his antics.
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Upon witnessing the random celebrities being mentioned, Arenas declared on No Chill Gil, “These people right here shouldn’t even be in this joint…Ghostface Killer? This man tagging half Wu-Tang Clan. Come on, Shaq!…Killer Keon Fan Page? I hope that’s not Arsenio Hall…Who are these people, man?”.
Throughout the process, the 3x All-Star laughed hysterically, devaluing the efforts of Shaq. Additionally, Arenas ridiculed the 4x champion for his silly endeavors, turning the latter into a laughing stock.
This has provided a new dynamic to the entire beef, rekindling fan interest in the matter. It all began during the announcement of the 2024 MVP when Shaq deemed Nikola Jokic an underserving winner, right as he was receiving the award. Even though the Serbian refused to read more into O’Neal’s lines, the statement didn’t sit right with most in the NBA community.
Over time, Sharpe emerged as a prominent name on this list who had a bone to pick with the NBA legend for his comments. During an episode of Nightcap, the 55-year-old even indirectly called Shaq out while outlining the potential reason behind his now-infamous statement.
“Shaq should have five MVPs. He sees a guy like Nikola Jokic who’s not as dominant as him get three in four years. When [you’re] historically great, they talk about you as a great basketball player, the GOAT — and Shaq is never brought up. And I think a part of him is envious of that”.
if Shaq woulda had Unc’s worth ethic @ShannonSharpe @ochocinco @GilsArenaShow @ShayShayMedia_ pic.twitter.com/1PeqWlKnCD
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) May 9, 2024
This statement annoyed Shaq, kickstarting a series of back-and-forths between the sports icons. Eventually, O’Neal wanted to put the final nail in the coffin with his diss track. Channeling his ‘Shaq Diesel’ persona, he launched a remixed version of Ryan Garcia’s Number One on 10th May.
While uploading it on Instagram, Shaq opted to go full throttle on his antics. Initially, he encouraged his followers to tune into several popular sports podcasts other than Sharpe’s Nightcap and Club Shay Shay. Following this, he thanked Garcia before tagging several musicians in the caption.
The 52-year-old wrote, “Whenever yall wanna listen to a podcast when the host has G14 classifications tune into The Big Podcast with Shaq…All The Smoke, Draymond Green, The Old Man and the Three…and many others. And special thanks to Ryan Garcia, I had to remix your song number one. Rick Ross, 50 Cent….Love yall , now I’m done with this”.
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So, Shaq only has himself to blame for the ongoing mockery around him. Out of spite, the New Jersey-born failed to maintain his composure, mentioning numerous podcast hosts, music artists, and other celebrities of various fields for no particular reason. And to make things worse, his plan failed miserably as the big man didn’t receive an ounce of public support from any of the people he mentioned.
Thankfully, the 2000 MVP has not stretched the matter any further since then. However, these recent comments from Arenas hold the potential to spur yet another controversial series of events.
That said, the chances of it taking place remain slim at the moment, bringing sanity after the short-lasting chaos.
