"This is Senator Shaquille O'Neal, and I endorse Joe Exotic for President," O'Neal told KXII news in Oklahoma back in 2016. Now, that was probably a little tongue-in-cheek. But while how well the pair knew each other, and how close they were, might be up for debate, it's certainly clear that this bizarre duo has some sort of history.
What is the relationship between Joe Exotic and Shaquille O'Neal?
In that same KXII News interview, Exotic (then credited as Joseph Maldonado ) said that O'Neal basically would visit the zoo for a few hours at a time every time he was in the Oklahoma areapresumably, any time he was in town to play against the Oklahoma City Thunder as a player, or broadcast a game for TNT.
At some point about eight years prior, Exotic claims he had met the 7'1'' centerand didn't know who he was. "One day he just showed up at the zoo, and I actually didn't know who the man was," Exotic said. "Everybody was like, 'that's Shaq!' And I'm like 'who's Shaq?'"
Exotic told the exact same story to FOX 25 in Oklahoma. "I'm not a big sports or TV guy, so I didn't even know who he was when he walked in," Exotic said . "We became friends, he's an awesome guy gigantic! He makes me look like a little kid."
And while Exotic is far from a reliable source, it does seem like O'Neal visited the zoo a decent bit. He even appears in a post on the @GWZoo Instagram:
He also appeared in a May 2014 episode of the Joe Exotic TV online showalongside Joe, John , and Travisas featured in the Tiger King series. The clip is only about a minute long, but features a couple classic moments. At one point, O'Neal is petting a white tiger cub. "This is Shaq, here with my main man Joe, and Joe just gave me this tiger for a present."
Did Shaq really buy two tigers?
About a half hour into the first episode of Tiger King, a clip from Inside the NBA from a broadcast of a playoff game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors shows O'Neal saying he "got two more tigers," but it turns out that was just him being his larger-than-life self.
Did he actually buy the tigers? In shortno. What he did, though, was "sponsor" them, according to Exotic. That meant providing funding for things like food and veterinarian bills.
Exotic claimed that O'Neal had sponsored five different tigers in his park. "People like Shaq and movie stars helping out, that's the only way [tigers] will stay on this planet," he said.
How does Shaq feel about Tiger King?
On his podcast The Big Podcast with Shaq , Shaq addressed the series, which he says is "actually a really good documentary," and one that he's already binge-watched. He did take a few minutes of the podcast, though to attempt to clear his name and distance himself from Joe Exotic in light of his first episode cameo.
"I love tigersespecially white ones," he said. He continued, detailing that one time when the Dallas Mavericks were playing the Oklahoma City Thunder, he took the rather than flying, and on the way he came across a tiger sanctuaryJoe Exotic's to be exact. "So we go in there, and it's a beautiful place, and the character that was there was [sic] Exotic Joe. I dropped some donations for the tiger foods and all that, we took pictures with tigers, and we went back a couple times."
He then says that he went back another time, and found out he was involved "with all the stuff," and at that point he stopped going. "I had no idea that stuff was going on," he said.
When asked if the documentary could paint him in a bad light, the basketball legend responded strongly, and distanced himself from the documentary's star.
"I don't harm tigers. I love tigers. I love white tigers. Do I put donations to these zoos to help these tigers out? I do all the time. Do I own tigers personally at my house? No. But I love tigers," he said. "Listen, people are going to make their own opinions, but, again, I was just a visitor. I met this guynot my friend. I don't know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on."
