Why Is Kanye West Beefing With Shaquille O’Neal? Uncovering the Back Story on the Latest Hot-Headed Feud

It seems to have come out of the blue. Shaquille O’Neal wrapped a successful 2024 edition of Shaq’s Fun House, watched his favorite team win the Super Bowl, got to meet Taylor Swift as he wished, and went about his media appearances. Then he posted a scathing comment on Kanye West. But why? There’s a relatively unknown connection between them that precedes this rant.

It’s not only the usual Swift-West feud – escalated from Ye name-dropping Taylor in “Carnival” released a day before the Super Bowl – and Shaq standing up for her. It involves their respective business partners and West’s past controversy.

As narrated by the YouTube channel, Popcorned Planet, West reportedly snubbed O’Neal at the Super Bowl. Following that, Kanye made a post praising the entrepreneur and his business partner, Dov Charney. In the same post, he spoke against Jamie Salter, the founder and CEO of Authentic Brands Group, the business that owns Reebok and in which Shaq is the second-largest stakeholder.

Shaq fired back in the comments, “who cares, stop b****in and snitchin. i kno u saw me at the Super Bowl. i was waiting for u to say something smart. man up. nobody wanna see u cryin. man up lil boy.” This is a similar situation to what went down between them in 2022.

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Kyrie Irving and Kanye West were in similar but separate controversies. Several businesses and brands distanced themselves from West back then. Adidas also disassociated with his brand, Yeezy, causing him to drop from his billionaire status. Meanwhile, Authentic bought Reebok from Adidas under Shaq’s advice in 2021. But after Shaq slammed Kyrie’s actions, West went after the big man.

Throwback to 2022 Shaq-Ye drama

He accused Shaq of only speaking out to appease the people he’s in business with, aka Salter. O’Neal quoted West himself to respond. “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’ take my advice get your family business in order. Have a great day brother.”

Just when we thought this unresolved dispute was forgotten, 2024 saw the revival of this feud. Shaq fulfilled his dream of meeting West’s rival, Taylor Swift. She reportedly had West removed from the suite near her in Allegiant Stadium. West and O’Neal apparently didn’t run into each other before West made the comments about Salter.

For most fans, this came out of left field. But as Popcorned Planet revealed, it’s not new. Shaq deleted the comment after it got attention, which earned some criticism from social media users. Do you think this situation is getting diffused any time soon?

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