Shaquille O'Neal Caught making fun of handicapped guy via Instagram

originally posted by: Capitalsource
I really wish people would stop trying to 'get even' over the whole Sterling debacle.

The two incident's aren't even remotely comparable.

Donald Sterling described black people as "the enemy" and he didn't want them at his games.

Shaq, whilst being an idiot and trying to keep his Instagram followers entertained, took a selfie comparing it to what looks on the surface, just another person pulling a stupid face. Unfortunately, the young man he mocked had a disability. Shaq has apologized for his ignorance and will no doubt support the young mans cause.

We will never get rid of racism if people constantly try to justify it by comparing it to other unrelated incidents.

If Shaq had said he finds all disabled people funny, or he hated white people then we might be on to something, but he didn't. So, Stop it.

no, you stop it.

where did stirling say he did't want black people at his games or that they were the enemy?
and he paid his past fines without being convicted of anything.

"looks on the surface"??! you think that side by side pic of the kid was distorting his face like shaq?

yeah, an apology is just the out for a dem and i can't wait to hear how many millions shaq will back this kid with.

sure, it's not racist, it's just black on black crime, right?
it's still discrimination.

originally posted by: HawkeyeNation
Just stop people just stop. We're talking about a grown man making fun of another grown man. Yes it's in bad taste but c'mon people. To say he is disgusting, unintelligent human being is not accurate. His decision making might be a little wrong but bad decisions does not make a someone a terrible person. I've made many terrible decision growing up and I have learned from many of those. In fact i wouldn't be who I am today without those. So I'm actually kind of glad those happened. Everyone still makes mistakes and Shaq owned up to his mistake & apologized. It's not our job to judge whether or not he meant it.

We've all been to Walmart...we've all seen the people at Walmart. While I try hard not to judge people I sometimes in my mind just plain and simply judge people because they stink, wear disgusting clothes or plain and simply are down right rude ignorant people. Am I wrong for judging...yes but it natural instinct.

Long rant but my point is lets not make this any bigger than what it truly is.

Also to those who state Shaq is an uneducated goon that is far from the truth.

Education
O'Neal left LSU for the NBA after three years. However, he promised his mother he would eventually return to his studies and complete his bachelor's degree. He fulfilled that promise in 2000, earning his bachelor of arts in general studies.[140] Coach Phil Jackson let O'Neal miss a home game so he could attend graduation. At the ceremony, he told the crowd "now I can go and get a real job". Subsequently, O'Neal earned an MBA online through the University of Phoenix in 2005. In reference to his completion of his MBA degree, he stated: "It's just something to have on my resume for when I go back into reality. Someday I might have to put down a basketball and have a regular 9-to-5 like everybody else."[141]

Toward the end of his playing career, he began work on an Ed.D. in Human Resource Development at Barry University.[142][143] His doctoral capstone[144][145] topic was "The Duality of Humor and Aggression in Leadership Styles".[142][146] O'Neal received his degree in 2012.[147] O'Neal told a reporter for ABC News that he plans to further his education still by attending law school.[148]

O'Neal has also studied directing and cinematography with the New York Film Academy's Filmmaking Conservatory.
en.wikipedia.org...'Neal#College_career

so a heartfelt apology from stirling will make it all better?

wtf? is he the next roman polanski or woody allen?
maybe he should just write for family guy or american dad.

anyway, he's got a lot of work to do on his humor side of leadership styles, he has the aggression down.

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Well the clippers removed the page with the info about donating 80,000 tickets but it is still mentioned in the google search description.

I don't think anybody can honestly claim he did not want any black people at all to attend the games. He clearly did not want any black people to come with V and sit in his section, which is bigoted enough on its own without needing further embellishment.

Donald T. Sterling | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE LOS ANGELES ... www.nba.com/clippers/roster/donaldtsterling.html Donald T. Sterling ranks among the longest-tenured NBA owners, and is one of the few ... of 80,000 tickets for local children and their families through the Donald T. Sterling ... He has received many honors, including the 2009 NAACP Lifetime ...

yeah, unless HE invited them. what is wrong with that?

who cares? it's his section, his gal pal, his dime. lol!

i don't want my wife bringing triads to my parties. i am white. am i a bigot?

originally posted by: stargatetravels
So did Shaq know the guy was handicapped and had an actual condition?
Or did he, like most people these days just see a picture of a weird looking guy seemingly pulling a face and copy it?
Shaq didn't get the benefit of seeing the news piece or knowing that the guy had a condition, from the photo posted it is not obvious.

I saw a stand up a few years ago and he encouraged hecklers - a woman called out with a squeaky voice and the comedian joked if she was trapped down a well or stuck in the toilet because her voice was very odd.
Obviously he couldn't see and neither could I or most people.
During the interval making my way to the bathroom I spot the lady who called out, she was several rows back from me, in a wheelchair, and clearly had a condition that affected growth and so on.
Nobody would have laughed and the comedian would not have said anything knowing this.

These things happen and unless Shaq actually KNEW the mans condition before 'mocking' him in a photo, then this is just a stupid non issue that is now being hijacked because of the clippers race story.

maybe ya just shouldn't do that crap then? make fun of people you don't know.

phony scandal? i don't think so.

a reply to: wantsome

Very interesting and very disappointing. Shiq should be banned from the NBA for this, as well as lose his ESPN job, but I doubt there will be a big enough groundswell to cause this to happen. Yes, this is a double standard. Shiq in a way is worse than Sterling; he did this offensive thing publicly and to a person with a disability. What a disgusting PoS.

The minute he mocked Romney during a televised game was the last time I had anything positive to say about this baller. Ever read Shaqs application for the LAPD. Check it out online. You may choke just by reading his answers.

Will Shaq be fined for being insensitive? Will he be forced to sell property he owns?

No because very few people care about when someone is offensive, but when race is involved, it gets blown out of proportion.

I can only imagine how hard it must be to be that guy. His entire life he has been mocked and gawked for his appearance and a typical alpha male jock like Shaq insults him publicly, and gets thousands of likes? Shaq you are a piece of garbage.

I just dont understand this world we live in today.

a reply to: wantsome

They probably don't know what they're doing.

Why would a celebrity do something like this, knowing that they could lose a lot of fans or even get fired? Because they think it's innocent fun and no one is being harmed. Most people must think the same way since he got thousands of likes on that picture.

Our lack of compassion can cause us to harm people without us even noticing or thinking a second thought. We think we are just having 'innocent fun'.

People who earn millions and millions of dollars to play a sport are role models to our children. Same with celebrities. That is why they should know better. Shaq obviously didn't put a shred of thought into this, otherwise he would've realized it was a bad idea. (At least I hope)

That being said, I think a lot of us need to step back and think "have I NEVER said or done anything I regret"?

a reply to: wantsome

It really angers me that people who do things like this make some half-a**ed apology and all is forgiven. Because they're a "celeb" they get away with all kinds of things, nothing is ever genuine, it's all PR and spin.

It's about time we had more accountability, getting a publicist to clean up the mess is not enough. If something akin to this happened a hundred years ago in a community they would be shunned and expected to make up for their transgressions through hard work and rebuilding of character. These days it's all "fixed" by tweeting.

In my opinion, these people showed themselves for what they really are, and an apology is not even close to enough.

Instead of just apologizing Shaq should volunteer his time, and some funds to help this guy get his anti-bullying campaign off and running.

What better spokes person than the one that did the bullying in the first place.

When a person is making big money off his image, he should think a bit more about what is proper and should also expect a bigger response to his negative actions. I suppose his supporters see it as alright. If so, sad.

He purposely put his statement out for the world to see. He bet he will get a pass. As far as the NBA, those bylaws are written so a generous amount of interpretation can be applied by the commissioner. I don't expect even a word.

“I think the league should take a very long, hard look at whether this guy should continue being an owner or not,” Shaquille O’Neal said.

SI Link

I guess Shaq doesn't believe NBA owners should be saying insensitive remarks about others in private, much less public.

a reply to: wantsome


I cant see how Shaq has any room making fun of retarded people, not after being in the films Kazam and Steel. I still got my Shaq Fu video game cartidge for sega genesis sitting around somewhere think I will take a hammer to it now

originally posted by: jackj
The minute he mocked Romney during a televised game was the last time I had anything positive to say about this baller. Ever read Shaqs application for the LAPD. Check it out online. You may choke just by reading his answers.

He is a mindless bully , he is exactly what the LAPD are looking for. Maybe he should apply in long beach or In New Mexico. They would hire him on the spot lol.

I got teased a lot when I was younger. I find it strange how it's the people who didn't get teased as much or the ones who did the teasing who're the one's who seem to feel the strongest about supporting anti-bullying. They "grew up". IMHO, ostracising the bully or having a zero-tolerance policy (with extreme prejudice or punishment to the wrongdoer) are just bullying cleverly disguised. Neither does it give the bully a chance to correct themselves, as people are very judgmental and once you lose your reputation it's nearly impossible to regain it. People, if they feel it's SAFE to ridicule, WILL ridicule. At our core, there's something about us that makes us love to ostracize and/or single out others, so we can attack their character or histories with impunity. IMHO, it's a projection of our self-doubt onto someone else. We love to pick apart someone else.

I think Shaq is impulsive and makes bad jokes. To me, this is not on the level of racism and shouldn't be compared to that. Racism is deeper. What Shaq did is kind of like how kids will join in on bullying someone else because of peer pressure, but if they're alone, they'll not bully and instead will actually be a semi-friend. When they "grow up", they feel bad about it. Maybe I'm being too friendly to Shaq. This is how I feel.

I just don't think Shaq truly HATES the handicapped guy. Should there be consequences to making this bad joke? Of course. People will not respect Shaq as much anymore. Either he learns this and makes better jokes, or doesn't. Either way, I think if Shaq actually meets the handicapped man, he'll feel very sorry for making the joke. He doesn't HATE the man.

No, I don't think it's worth destroying Shaq's career over a bad joke. Why? Because it's not true hate. This is not extreme prejudice. And I think people only think that because they have a chip on their shoulder. They don't actually want things to be better, they just want to attack someone.

I bet that kid can hit more free throws than Shaq....

I find it disgusting that he thinks it is all right to make fun of this guy on Instagram yet he has the nerve to rip on the LA Clippers owner for his racist remarks that were made in the privacy of his own home. Maybe they should ban him from any NBA facility or function. Dam hypocrite.

a reply to: wantsome

Don't the Obamas have an anti-bullying campaign?

This is worse than racism because it's a medical condition.

Discrimination in its ugliest form.

fwiw, I don't think the guy is disabled at all.

Its society that has a handicap with how they react to people whose appearance isn't normal; but I do understand that experiencing that all your life will affect anyone. You know, "If everyone keeps saying you're drunk, you lay down."

Shame on shaq and everybody else who jumped on his bandwagon.

Where is the ADL when you need it?

There should be legislation about this.

originally posted by: jonnywhite

I just don't think Shaq truly HATES the handicapped guy. Should there be consequences to making this bad joke? Of course. People will not respect Shaq as much anymore. Either he learns this and makes better jokes, or doesn't. Either way, I think if Shaq actually meets the handicapped man, he'll feel very sorry for making the joke. He doesn't HATE the man.

So what do you think Shaq feels toward the man (which is how he feels about deformed people in general because he didn't know him)?

Contempt?

Disrespect?

Proverbs 26:18-19 is in that part of the Book of Proverbs scholars think was based on the possibly 3300 year old Instructions of Amenemopet has this to say about this kind of thinking:

As a mad man who casts firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that destroys his friend and says," Am I not in sport?"

Goes to show the man these "celebrities" poked fun at is a much bigger, and better person, than any of them will ever be.

As a person who cares for special needs kids, and young adults, this absolutely sickens me. It hurts my heart that those who have so much to battle in their day to day lives are then subject to this sort of treatment by scum that aren't deserving of the fortunes and fame that they have. They have a hard enough time with the general public staring at them, pointing and whispering around them. It's truly bizarre to me that people act like this in this day and age.

I pray that they will one day feel the hurt and embarrassment this man felt due to the actions of these pigs. Without his NBA career, what would Shaq be in this life? He's obviously not very smart, he's unfunny, and definitely not a good looking fellow. As far as the others, I have no clue who this Wocka fella is, so he cannot be that important to the World, now can he? I've never heard of the other guy, either.

Blessed are the meek...