Shaquille O’Neal had words for Kanye West after Ye accused the retired NBA champion-turned sports commentator of allowing his business alignments to “control him.” The short-lived clash began when Yeezy reposted a screenshot of a Fox News article about Shaq’s opinion on Kyrie Irving and his recent anti-semitism backlash.
The article that reads: “Shaq rips Kyrie Irving over antisemitism controversy, calls him an ‘idiot,’” amped West to claim that the former Lakers player only made that statement due to his “business alignments.”
“They make us bully ourselves because of our business alignments,” Kanye tweeted on Thursday (Nov. 3).
Ye turned it up a notch when he made claims about Shaq’s business relationship with billionaire, Jamie Salter.
“Shaq is in business with Jamie Salter,” Ye said. “Jaimie [sic] first said he’s 50/50 with David Beckham and 50/50 with Shaq. I said ‘Jamie . . . There’s no such thing as 50/50 in business . . . Who has the extra 1 percent for the control and voting rights?'”
He concluded with: “Jamie then said he’s actually got the 51 percent on both those deals We as the creators and talent get so caught up in our vanity that we don’t read or understand the fine print. Like Dave Chapelle said, we need to stop giving up control over our own names and our likeness.”
Shaq responded to Kanye’s antics with: “Believe me you don’t know me like that. Worry about your business, and to quote the once great Kanye west ‘I got more money than you, so why would i listen to you.'”
He added, “Take my advice get your family business in order. Have a great day brother.”
Kanye West and Kyrie Irving have both recently rubbed people the wrong way with their thoughts on anti-semitism. Irving’s backlash follows a tweet he sent out linking the film, Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America. The docu-film has been criticized for having stereotypes and tropes throughout its message. Ye’s backlash comes from anti-semitic comments made about the Jewish community while speaking publicly.
Since then, West and Irving have both issued public apologies to the communities they hurt with their statements.
