During his playing days, “Hack-a-Shaq” was a popular strategy in basketball to foul NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal anytime he had the ball to get him to the free throw line. However, now that he’s retired and chiming in on politics, the four-time NBA champion is proving he’s no hack at all.
In an interview with Judy Kurtz on The Hill’s In The Know, Shaq Diesel called for an end to recount efforts in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, saying Donald Trump won the election “fair and square.”
“We have a process that’s been going on forever,” the Kazaam star told Kurtz on Wednesday. “And whoever wins, you just hope he does what he says he’s going to do. You know, candidate Trump promised a lot of people a lot of things.”
The Grown Ups 2 actor continued by wishing the best for President-elect Trump. “Now that he’s president-elect, you just hope that he can make the world a better place. He won fair and square. We have to give him a chance. There’s no need talking about recounts and this and that.”
O’Neal, who’s a featured basketball commentator on the NBA on TNT, has been a longtime friend of Trump and even called him “a straight up guy.”
Shaq: “Trump’s a straight up guy”#HillarysEmails
Media fusses Trump’s turn of phrases instead of Hillary’s TREASON. pic.twitter.com/KfPkTpRnfO— The People Awaken! (@__The_Awakening) August 23, 2016
When asked by Kurtz what’s harder, a tough basketball showdown or getting through to lawmakers, Shaq-Fu said, “I would have to say getting legislation passed in Congress. You have a lot of people up there and you have to try to convince the majority that this is what you think should happen.”
O’Neal, who serves as a Florida Police Department reserve officer, has been attending briefings on Capitol Hill via Responsibility.org about fighting impaired driving.
Finally, when it came down to who would be more likely to win head-to-head, President Obama or President-elect Trump, O’Neal took no time in saying, “Neither.”
Kurtz replied, “They’d both be toast?”
Shaq joked, “Barbecue chicken is what I like to call it.”
