Shaquille O'Neal is addressing his appearance on the popular Netflix television series "Tiger King" and says that he was not aware of what was going on behind the scenes at the zoo.
According to ESPN, the O'Neal attempted to clarify his appearance on "Tiger King," saying that while he loves big cats, he "had no idea" what was going on at the Oklahoma ranch owned by Joseph Maldonado-Passage, the now-imprisoned title character known as "Joe Exotic."
O'Neal appeared in the opening episode of the seven-part series, and video showed him touring the zoo and taking pictures with the animals. It then cuts to him referencing the visit the next night while on TNT's NBA broadcast, saying, "Shoutout to Exotic Joe" and "I got two more tigers."
Joe Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January after he was found guilty of multiple charges, including murder-plot-for-hire and illegally selling tiger cubs.
During a recent episode of "The Big Podcast With Shaq," O'Neal explained his appearance:
So we go in there, and it's a beautiful place, and the character that was there was Exotic Joe. We're there, and I dropped some donations for the tigers' foods and all that. We take pictures with [the] tigers. We went back a couple times. Then we go back another time, and we found out that he's involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going.
You can read the full article from ESPN here.
