NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal makes his moves with intention, just like he did on the basketball court. After speaking out unambiguously against anti-Semitism and the recent controversial online sharing by Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, O’Neal’s social media accounts have begun to fill up with less friendly chatter than the big man is used to.
Many people in the Shaq feed apparently feel that Irving is being mistreated, and that O’Neal’s failure to defend his fellow NBA veteran makes O’Neal a hypocrite. (We won’t repeat the comments here.)
It seems clear Shaq is being very intentional with this post below, where he says pointedly “I’ll tell you what I am…”
All this flaming is unfortunate — that O’Neal, having stood up for equality and against injurious lies, should get pilloried online by those whose worldview is so dark that they can’t understand the point O’Neal is making.
But O’Neal, having been in the spotlight for a long time, knows haters and takedown artists come with the territory. In his latest post, O’Neal lip syncs an instant classic response from NFL legend Deion Sanders that has become a Christian motivation text at the heart of the FixUrCrown movement.
Here is an original version, zoomed in and scored by producer Matt King Cold Rojas.
And here’s PrimeTime in color and on TikTok, the original motivated man…
@scholdingcorp I wake up motivated #deonsanders #motivation #business #primetime ♬ original sound – Stratton Connoisseur
Fellow NBA superstar LeBron James, who also condemned Irving’s stance, describes below just how an accomplished person must shell up and turn off the noise to keep focused on the prize.
What gets lost, however, is that in turning off all those who criticize you, you risk turning off those whose criticism is well-considered, kindly meant, worth hearing and acting upon. Irving seems to have turned off well-intentioned critics to his detriment. Shaq listens and responds.
