Shaquille O’Neal is coming to the defense for his former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson from accusations of racism levied by Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen.
Pippen has gone super viral over the past few days over things he has said to the media. On Monday, during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show“, the Hall of Fame forward doubled down on his comments to GQ calling Jackson a racist for infamously giving the final shot to Toni Kukoc in Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals. He even cited Jackson’s behavior towards Kobe Bryant as an example of his racist tendencies.
The Diesel has since dismissed Pippen’s explosive words on Jackson.
“I don’t want to get involved in other people’s beef, but Phil is definitely not a racist,” O’Neal told FanSided’s Mark Carman. “What he said about Barkley makes a lot of sense, but he’s coming out with a new drink and a new book. Maybe this is all marketing.”
As far as the Barkley part, Pippen famously clashed with him during their one tumultuous campaign together with the Houston Rockets in 1998-99.
“I never apologized to him, but I’ll tell you what: He only got arrested for throwing some little white guys out of a window,” Pippen said about Barkley. “I ain’t never seen him fight a Black man unless there were referees around. He plays his role like he’s tough. I don’t know nobody he done whooped.”
O’Neal won three titles (2000-02) and an MVP (2000) with Bryant and Jackson in Los Angeles.
