Shaq Says Joe Exotic Is Not His Friend Despite His Appearance On Tiger King & His Donations To The Zoo

At first glance, the concept for Tiger King just seemed so out of left field. However, it’s really resonated with viewers and there are plenty of pop culture ties to this cast. Those alligators that died in the fire used to belong to Michael Jackson. Doc Antle was a part of Britney Spears’ performance during the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. And there are probably some more links between these big cat enthusiasts and pop culture that we haven’t even realized yet.

In the Netflix series itself, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal appeared with Joe Exotic at the GW Zoo. He publicly supported the zoo and he even donated money. However, he’s changed his stance after watching Tiger King.

TMZ recently reported that Shaq addressed his Tiger King cameo appearance during an episode The Big Podcast with Shaq. The short version of the story is that Shaq had no idea about what was going on at the zoo while he was publicly supporting the facility and Joe Exotic.

On the podcast, Shaq said, “I was just a visitor. I met this guy. Not my friend. Don’t know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on.”

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Shaq insisted that he would never support the mistreatment of animals. He declared, “People that know me know that I’m righteous. I don’t harm tigers. I love tigers.”

Shaq revealed, “We found out that he’s involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going.”

RELATED: Tiger King Star Jeff Lowe Says Helping The Feds Take Down Joe Exotic & Tim Stark Is His “Biggest Contribution” To The Animal Kingdom

Even though he’s done supporting the GW Zoo, that doesn’t mean that Shaq didn’t watch the Netflix series. The former Laker admitted, “It’s actually a really good documentary.” Yes, it is. It is beyond intriguing.