Former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal has addressed his controversial cameo in Netflix's "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness," a true crime docuseries about Oklahoma zookeeper Joseph Maldonado-Passage, stating that he is "not friends" with Maldonado-Passage and had "no idea any of that stuff was going on," according to NBC News.
Maldonado-Passage, who is better known as Joe Exotic, is currently serving a 22-year sentence for planning a murder-for-hire plot targeting animal rights activist Carole Baskin and for more than a dozen wildlife violations, including killing five tigers.
"Listen, people are going to make their own opinions, but, again, I was just a visitor. I met this guy — not my friend. Don’t know him," O'Neal said of Exotic on the most recent episode of his podcast "The Big Podcast With Shaq." "Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on.”
O'Neal, who has a known affinity for tigers, appeared in the first episode of "Tiger King," where he was seen touring the zoo and taking pictures with its animals. The series also showed a clip of the basketball star referencing his visit on TNT, where his is currently a sports analyst, during which he said "Shoutout to Joe Exotic" and announced he "got two more tigers."
Read the full story at NBC News.com.
