Shaquille O’Neal always has that inner kid in him that likes to fool around and do crazy stuff. Often, Shaq’s antics give people a good laugh, but his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Brian Shaw recalled the one time when O’Neal’s foolishness almost got them in real trouble.
The incident happened during the 2001 NBA Finals, where the Lakers faced the Philadelphia 76ers. In one of the in-between days during their games in Philly, Shaw said that he, O’Neal, and Shaq’s Uncle Jerome went to the Philadelphia Zoo on a tour. However, what was supposed to be a fun rest day turned out to be a scary learning experience.
Advertisement
“So the dude that’s giving us the tour, he says, ‘When we go by the gorillas, do not look the gorilla straight in the eye, they’re going to treat it as a threat and it’s going to make them go crazy,'” said Shaw during his recent appearance on Byron Scott’s podcast. “So they have an Albino silverback. So we go, and it’s just the glass in between us, and so we’re walking by. So the whole time, I’m thinking, I ain’t looking him in the eye because the man just told us not to look it in the eye.”
Goofy Shaq did the opposite
By nature, gorillas are very shy animals. And just like shy people, they consider eye contact as an invasion of their privacy. Looking them straight in the eye makes them uncomfortable and causes them to react violently in self-defense. In the case of zoo gorillas, they usually charge at the cage or pound the enclosure wildly to ward off what they consider a threat.
Advertisement
It’s unclear if that was O’Neal’s first time at a zoo or going near a gorilla. Or maybe he was just his usual goofy self. However, Shaq defied what the tour guide said and proceeded to do the opposite, causing a commotion.
“So Shaq walks by, and he’s looking straight, and he just turns and looks in the gorilla’s eye,” Shaw added. “And that big a— Albino gorilla ran up the glass and started banging on the glass real hard, and the first time I ever Shaq scared. I immediately looked at Shaq, and he said, ‘Damn, he wasn’t lying.’ I said, ‘Yeah, he looked at you, going, how the hell did he get out of here?'”
Shaq admitted that Gorillas get ticked off when they see him
That experience and Shaw’s punchline likely explain O’Neal’s gorilla joke from a February 2022 installment of “The Big Podcast.” In that episode, Shaq talked about how gorillas always go crazy whenever they see him because they think he’s one of them.
Advertisement
“True story,” Shaquille said. “I’ve been to every zoo in the world, and every time I go to the gorilla section, they look at me like, ‘Hey man, where your fur at?’ For real. For real. That’s how they look at me. They also look at me like, ‘What am I doing in here and you out there?’ And they always go crazy when they see me.”
O’Neal also corroborated Shaw’s story about the pale-colored gorilla in Philly when he guested on Logan Paul’s podcast.
“They had this Albino gorilla in Philly. He almost broke the damn glass and got out. His name was Joey, and when he stood up, he was like 9’9″…I’m tough and all, but I’m not gonna fight no gorilla,” said Shaq.
Advertisement
O’Neal may be the most dominant and physical player to ever set foot in the NBA. However, even he knows that it would be a mistake to mess around with one of the strongest animals on the face of the planet.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 3, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.