Shaquille O’Neal is arguably one of the most famous men to ever walk on the surface of the planet. After retiring from the NBA as the most dominant basketball player ever, Shaq established himself as an ace businessman and investor within a decade, amassing a staggering net worth of $400 million. However, the big fella never really denounced his God-ordained responsibility to entertain his fans. Apart from his exploits as an entrepreneur, Shaq is also a globally known DJ, regularly performing in concerts and festivals around the world, and a veteran NBA analyst for TNT. Despite his eventful life, Shaq refuses to call himself a ‘celebrity’ and thinks of himself as just a regular person for a specific reason.
Shaquille O’Neal has developed a reputation as a bona fide ‘man of the people’ over the years. The 7’1 giant has really shown that he cares about the underserved people in the community through his charitable acts. In fact, Shaq used to look out for mothers at Best Buy to pay for their bills, which would alleviate a lot of stress for single moms, who often live paycheck to paycheck to provide their kid a good life.
Shaquille O’Neal is not a celebrity
Last year, Shaq appeared on Logan Paul’s ‘Impaulsive’ podcast to discuss the NBA and other things going on in his life. During the show, Shaq emphatically declared that he rejects the ‘celebrity’ tag after Logan Paul labelled him one. This surprised Paul and the rest of the crew members a little.
The four-time NBA Champion explained the one reason why he doesn’t like the ‘celebrity’ title, “I denounced myself from being a celebrity three years ago. Imma tell you why. Cause celebrities are a**holes. They are. They are rude, they’re obnoxious, they’re arrogant. And I’m not like that.”
“I’m just a regular guy. As you see I came here by myself, no entourage, no security, not throwing people around…A lot of people when they get certain stuff, they think that ‘because I have this I’m better than you.’ I’m not better than you…So celebrities they’re doing a lot of crazy stuff. I don’t wanna be involved in that,” he added.
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Shaq explained that he doesn’t want to be associated with the stigma that comes with being a ‘celebrity’. He doesn’t lead a life that resembles that of a typical celebrity. On the contrary, Shaq pointed out how growing up in a military base, under the tutelage of his drill sergeant father Phillip Harrison, taught him to lead a humble and disciplined life.
Wilt Chamberlain once called Shaq a celebrity
Even though Shaq detests the ‘celebrity’ tag, Wilt Chamberlain once called him exactly that. However, Chamberlain didn’t mean anything negative with his description.
The two-time NBA champion wanted to point out that O’Neal had a dynamic personality, which helped teams in the long run. Apart from his skillset on the court, Shaq was also a consummate entertainer.