Shaquille O’Neal Clears the Air on Drake Meme Controversy [Video]

Shaquille O’Neal recently shared a meme of Drake on social media and has now clarified that he wasn’t making fun of the rapper.

During an episode of The Big Podcast With Shaq that aired on Friday, June 28, the NBA legend addressed the post he made on his Instagram Stories earlier this week. The meme, soundtracked by the “BBL Drizzy” jab popularized by Metro Boomin, showed Shaq holding a woman in a bikini with her face edited to be that of Drake.

“Let me apologize right quick,” the 52-year-old began. “The mistake I made was I should’ve said ‘Who did this?’ […] Listen, Drake has a great sense of humor, so I thought it was funny that they did it.

“Like I saw ‘Shaq’s Trolling’ — no, I’m not trolling. I didn’t Photoshop it; somebody Photoshopped it […] I thought it was funny and, hopefully, [Drake] thought it was funny too. But once it went viral, I definitely took it down.”

You can hear the Lakers icon discuss the misunderstanding at the 32:47 mark of the podcast below:

Meanwhile, Drake’s ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar has put many loyalties to the test. The Canadian superstar seemingly shaded those who’ve left his side in a recent social media post.

Last week, Kendrick hosted and performed at a sold-out Juneteenth show in Inglewood, California, where he played several diss tracks aimed at Drake, including “euphoria” and “6:16 in LA.” The highlight was performing “Not Like Us” five times in a row, with the crowd singing along word for word. Basketball star LeBron James, a close friend and supporter of Drake, was among the thousands in attendance.

Speculation arose that Drake threw shade at LeBron when he posted a mirror selfie wearing a Cleveland Guardians jersey with “Summer League” stamped over the image on Instagram Stories. This might reference LeBron’s turbulent relationship with Cleveland, where he played for 11 seasons and won a championship but left controversially for the Miami Heat in 2010 before returning in 2014.