Shaquille O’Neal suggests Jill Biden’s White House invitation to BOTH women’s March Madness finalists LSU and Iowa was a race issue after Angel Reese sparked backlash: ‘You know what it was about’
- Iowa lost 102-85 to LSU in the college women’s basketball final this month
- And many disagreed with the idea that the Hawkeyes could go to DC as well
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Angel Reese, Stephen A. Smith and many more thought it was a bad idea that Jill Biden would invite Iowa’s March Madness runner-up to the White House — and so would Shaquille O’Neal.
Biden, who attended LSU’s victory over Iowa in Dallas, was roundly criticized for her suggestion that the Hawkeyes should visit D.C., with a spokesperson forcing to walk back the comments and her husband, President Biden, appearing to confirm that the idea would not be adopted. plate.
But a few weeks later, the situation still haunts NBA legend and former LSU star Shaquille O’Neal.
While some, including his’The big podcastWhile co-host Nischelle Turner has criticized the “participation trophy” mentality behind the First Lady’s comments, Shaq had a different idea.
Shaquille O’Neal believes Iowa’s potential invitation to the White House was racially motivated
Angel Reese called the idea of Iowa running for the White House a ‘JOKE’
And a spokesperson for Jill Biden had to take back the comments afterwards
“No, but it wasn’t about that,” O’Neal said on the show this week.
‘It wasn’t about that. I want people to use their imagination. You know what it was about. I’m not going to mention it. You know what it was about, don’t you?’
“We can say it,” Turner said. “It became a race issue. It became a team of all black girls beating a team of all white girls. That’s it.’
Co-host Spice Adams later added, “If Iowa had won, she probably wouldn’t have let LSU come,” said co-host Spice Adams.
“She wouldn’t even mention LSU,” O’Neal said. “There’s no probability.”
Reese, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, felt she was the target of racially motivated criticism following the title game.
The LSU player was roundly criticized by some for taunting Iowa — including star player Caitlin Clark — as the 102-85 victory wound down — while others pointed to similar behavior by Clark earlier in the tournament that went uninvestigated.
“All year I was criticized for who I was,” Reese said after the final.
“I don’t fit into a box you want me to be in. I’m too capricious. I’m too ghetto. But when other people do it, you say nothing. So this was for the girls who look like me who will say what they believe in. It’s you, unashamedly.’
She called Biden’s suggestion to invite Iowa to the White House a “joke” and continued to criticize the First Lady in I Am Athlete’s “Paper route.’
“If we lost, we wouldn’t be invited to the White House. Remember when she made a comment about how both teams should be invited because of sportsmanship. I’m like, “Are you saying that because of what I did?”
“That sort of thing bothers me, because at the end of the day you’re a woman, white, black, Mexican, it doesn’t matter. You should be behind us first and foremost.’
Shaq’s co-host Nischelle Turner said flat out that Iowa’s potential invite became a “race issue.”
On his podcast this week, Shaq continued to rail against the potential invite.
“In the history of me going to the White House and all the champions going to the White House, we haven’t even talked about the second team, have we?” he said.
“But the fact that it was that versus that. And the other one, who lost, then they wanted to make it a participation. “Oh, they lost, but they were there and everything.”
O’Neal, who campaigned for Biden in 2020, was a four-time NBA champion and visited the White House with the Lakers and Heat.