Imago
Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen A. Smith (Unlicensed Images)
Imago
Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen A. Smith (Unlicensed Images)
For someone who built a career on dominating inside the paint, Shaquille O’Neal is now learning how quickly things can flip outside of it. His attempt to defend Stephen A. Smith turned into a full-blown social media clash with Washington, D.C.-based creator Coach Jackie J, and this time, the internet didn’t side with the Hall of Famer.
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The situation escalated when O’Neal jumped into her comments and wrote, “Stop reaching get a life lady no get a real job.” The response immediately blew up. Jackie J fired back, calling him “weird again,” while fans flooded the replies. Not long after, O’Neal deleted the comment, but by then, screenshots had already made the rounds and the backlash was in full swing.
“@shaq you’re telling on yourself #espn #fireSAS,” she captioned her post. In the video, she pointed out the obvious disconnect. “Shaquille O’Neal just told me to get a life and get a job. Yes, that Shaquille O’Neal,” she said, before adding that it was strange for a 54-year-old to speak that way to someone “literally his daughter’s age.” She also noted that the two share LSU ties, making the exchange even more ironic.
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She didn’t stop there. Jackie J brought up one of O’Neal’s past controversies, asking, “Do you remember when you went on Angel Reese’s podcast and said the only way people would watch the WNBA is if they lowered the rims and had women dunk in booty shorts?” The callback wasn’t random. It framed her larger point about a pattern in how O’Neal talks about women’s basketball.
Jackie J also pushed back on the idea that she doesn’t have a “real job,” explaining that covering women’s sports is, in fact, her profession. She leaned into the irony while doing it, pointing to O’Neal’s own ventures like the Shaq-A-Roni promotion and even Kazaam, where he played a 5,000-year-old genie. The point landed clearly. If her career is up for debate, then so is his.
USA Today via Reuters
Jun 5, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; NBA analyst and former player Shaquille O’Neal speaks before the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics during game two of the 2022 NBA Finals at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
She then took it a step further. “I guess I could say that you defending your buddy Stephen A. Smith for being a creep on live TV just confirms for me that you would do the same thing,” she said, before pulling back. “But I’m not going to say any of that. I’m just going to be the bigger person,” she added, slipping in a final jab, “which is pretty impressive considering that Shaq is famously huge.”
The Stephen A. Smith Comment That Sparked It All
The entire exchange traces back to a moment on ESPN’s First Take. Chiney Ogwumike added some French while discussing Rudy Gobert, keeping the segment light and on theme. Then Stephen A. Smith shifted the tone completely. “I’ve never dated a woman from France, but after hearing Chiney… I was like, what have I been missing? That verbiage right there… that kinda turned me on,” he said.
The reaction was immediate. The energy on set flipped, with visible discomfort from the panel as the moment lingered. What started as a routine basketball discussion quickly turned into one of those clips that spreads for all the wrong reasons.
O’Neal may have deleted his comment, but the moment didn’t disappear with it. If anything, it highlighted a growing shift in sports media, where independent creators, especially in women’s sports, are pushing back harder than ever. What used to pass without much scrutiny now gets challenged in real time, and this time, even a Hall of Famer found himself on the wrong side of it.
