On both his own podcast and through outlets including CNN and CBS Sports, Shaq is talking about his brief appearance on the Netflix series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”
For those who don’t know, or who haven’t tuned in, the documentary / true-crime story is all about Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, a man who calls himself the Tiger King (and sometimes Joe Exotic). Maldonado-Passage runs a private zoo in Oklahoma called the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. The seven-part Netflix series talks about the facility taking care of big cats and other species, but also details charges against Maldonado-Passage in an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
A bit of recent history: just this past January, Maldonado-Passage was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted on multiple charges including an alleged plan to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin, who has been very critical of the zoo and the way it treats animals under its care. (Link above leads to the CNN.com story.)
As for O’Neal’s part? As already mentioned, it’s just a short cameo in one of the episodes of the program. Shaq did visit the park and interacted with some of the animals and tooks some photos with the man known as the Tiger King. He recently talked about the visit and his relationship with Maldonado-Passage on his podcast, “The Big Podcast with Shaq.”
Shaq explained to his listeners that he first spotted the park while on a basketball road trip, traveling by bus between Dallas and Oklahoma City. “On the way we see a sign that says ‘Tiger Sanctuary,’” O’Neal recalled. “So we go in there and it’s a beautiful place and the character that was there was Exotic Joe.”
O’Neal talks about taking pictures and donating cash to buy food for the tigers housed at the zoo. “We went back a couple times… Then we go back another time and we found out that he’s involved with all the stuff and then, actually, I stopped going. I had no idea all that stuff was going on.”
O’Neal says he’s watched all seven episodes of the series, and is not worried about being “”painted in a bad light” (his words) because of his appearance on the program.
“People that know me, they know I’m righteous,” O’Neal said. “I don’t harm tigers. I love tigers. I love white tigers. Do I put donations to these zoos to help these tigers out? I do it all the time.”
Quoted for the story on CNN.com, O’Neal said he doesn’t personally own any tigers, and that he was simply a visitor at the zoo, He denied any friendship with Maldonado-Passage.
“Don’t know him,” O’Neal said. “Never had any business dealings with him and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on.”
Shaq’s visits to the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park were back in 2014. Along with the cameo appearance on the Netflix series, Shaq also appeared in one of Joe Exotic’s YouTube videos.
Video from the show and the YouTube videos shows Shaq holding a few tiger cubs. O’Neal says he stopped visiting the zoo and park after he found out about the legal issues at the facility. Along with the murder-for-hire charges, Maldonado-Passage was also convicted euthanizing five tigers that were on the endangered species list when he ran the zoo.