Shaquille O’Neal has publicly expressed regret for a recent incident involving an edited photo of Drake. The 52-year-old basketball legend issued an apology to the rapper during an episode of “The Big Podcast” on June 28.
The controversy arose when O’Neal shared a doctored image on social media, depicting himself on a boat with a bikini-clad woman whose face had been replaced with that of Drake. The image was accompanied by the Metro Boomin diss track “BBL Drizzy.”
“Let me apologize right quick,” O’Neal began. “I sent out a picture the other day. The mistake I made was that I should’ve said, ‘Who did this?’ Because I want Drake to know…,” he explained, emphasizing that he did not create the edited image.
O’Neal elaborated, “Listen, Drake has a great sense of humor. So I thought it was funny that they did it. I don’t want him to think — like, I saw ‘Shaq’s trolling.’ No, I’m not trolling.”
Clarifying further, O’Neal stated he “wasn’t the one who Photoshopped” the image. “Somebody Photoshopped it, and I actually saw it and took the picture,” he said. “So, Drake, I apologize. I should have put ‘Who did this?’ on there, because I don’t want you to think I did that. Somebody sent it to me, I thought it was funny, and hopefully you thought it was funny, too. But once it went viral, I definitely took it down. So, my bad, big Drake.”