Shaquille O’Neal gives controversial take on relationships

Shaquille O’Neal is stepping into the hot seat with a controversial take on dating.

Shaq was a guest on Sarah Fontenot’s It’s Giving Podcast, where the topic of phone checking came to play. The NBA legend declared that “all” women check phones and began to give out a scenario of how his theory is correct.

Shaquille O’Neal

“We’re in the car. Tanya Big Booty Freak Colorado comes up on the Bluetooth. What you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna ask,” Fontenot said.

“Thank you. You went through my phone,” Shaq responded. “Now you a phone checker. … Street rule number one. Mind your business.”

While that part of the conversation was pretty mild, it escalated to Shaq claiming that men shouldn’t be “all the way honest” with their girlfriends.

“No, you not supposed to be all the way honest,” Shaq explained. “Let’s just say that we have a semi-open relationship and you call me. You want me to say, ‘I’m with this freak, I’ma try to hit it. I’ll call you back.’ That’s honest. Or, ‘Baby can I call you back, I’m with a friend.’”

He added, “You say you want honesty—if you can handle that, yeah. But if you can’t handle it—sometimes you have to protect the feelings. That’s all I’m saying. I’m with a friend, that’s not a lie.”

This dating topic follows the allegation by Jess Hilarious who claimed that Shaq had “four white girlfriends.”

“Yo, this man is living like Ne-Yo,” Jess told her fellow Breakfast Club hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy earlier this month. “He got four white b*****s.”

Shaq jokingly replied to Jess’ comment and said that he is now single because she put him on blast.
“See what happens when yall be all in my business, thanks to yall they left, now im all alone again. #fourofthem #shaqlikeneyo #4tingz,” he wrote.

Shaq on Angel Reese’s Podcast

Shaquille O’Neal © David Butler II-Imagn Images
This is not the first time that Shaq has made some controversial takes on a podcast. Last year, the Lakers legend went viral when he told WNBA star Angel Reese on her Unapologetically Angel podcast that he doesn’t considering talking to other women on the phone as cheating.

“If I’m not physically seeing somebody…and I’m with you every day and you know my schedule, it shouldn’t matter what I’m doing on my phone. It’s not cheating and then you can’t tell me that’s worse than cheating. It’s not. I just don’t understand that.”

He was previously married to Shaunie O’Neal and they share five children together: Shareef O’Neal, Shaqir O’Neal, Me’arah O’Neal, Myles B. O’Neal, and Amirah O’Neal. The former couple got married in 2002 but decided to get divorced in 2011. As to why they broke up, O’Neal takes the blame as infidelity was a reason as “he had too many options” in his memoir Shaq Uncut: My Story. He later took the blame again saying that “I was bad… It was all me” on The Pivot Podcast.

He was dated Nicole “Hoopz” Alexander in 2010 and got engaged two years later. Ultimately, they weren’t a match either and they called of their engagement in 2013.

“I already know I’m going to end up being alone … Nobody can understand me because I’m weird,” he continued with Reese.

Autumn Hawkins is an entertainment and celebrity associate editor for ClutchPoints. She previously covered entertainment news for Compulsive Magazine and OK Magazine. Autumn resides in New Jersey after getting her degree from Johnson & Wales University.