While Shaquille O’Neal‘s name can be associated with various accolades in the NBA, being attractive might not be one of them. On the flip side, he is also not the one to take any competition lightly. Alongside comedian Gary Owen, on his show The Big Podcast with Shaq, the Big Fella responded to some of the comments, made by his TNT crewmate Charles Barkley, about his looks.
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The 61-year-old, while on the Stephen Colbert Show, called O’Neal “ugly”, a word the TNT analyst often throws around while describing Shaq.
Barkley’s comments didn’t seem to sit well with Shaq, as the Lakers legend asked his comedian guest to respond on his behalf. But in a hilarious turn of events, Owen shot back at Shaq, saying, “No. But you are ugly. I agree with him.”
The four-time NBA champion was taken aback upon hearing his guest’s response. After a few silent seconds in the studio, O’Neal hilariously asked the show’s cameraman to take a close-up shot of his face asking the viewers, “I want a vote from the people, Am I ugly?…I don’t think I am ugly.”
Further, the Big Aristotle asked his TNT colleague to stop talking about his “beauty” altogether,
“I don’t want Charles Barkley talking about my beauty. I don’t want Charles to say that I am attractive… Save that for someone else.”
From the looks of it, Shaq wants Barkley to completely steer clear of commenting on the 7-footer’s looks. Regardless of O’Neal’s demands, it’s highly unlikely that Chuck will stop. The 76ers legend seems to take great pleasure in instigating O’Neal, and his trolling ways don’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Moreover, not just Shaq, he seems to love commenting on anybody’s looks.
Barkley loves talking about everyone’s appearance
Shaquille O’Neal isn’t the only victim of Barkley’s ‘body shaming’ jokes. In fact, Barkley’s obsession with women in San Antonio is a well-documented phenomenon. For a long time, he has made a running gag of calling them fat, and his co-host often laughs along with it.
Barkley didn’t just stop there. During an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005, he decided to call out his friend and Bulls legend, Michael Jordan as he even doubled down on his take,
“People always tell me he is handsome. He is not handsome…I think anytime you get three, four hundred million dollars, you become handsome.”
But Barkley’s candid persona does have its downsides. His comments about Jordan and his management of the Charlotte Hornets resulted in the end of Jordan’s relationship with him. Chuck is known to speak his mind, however, his comments about Shaq are not to be taken seriously. NBA fans know that the duo regularly engages in such banters, even though, off-camera, they are best friends.
