{"id":722105,"date":"2026-04-30T15:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/722105\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T15:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:07:44","slug":"woman-from-viral-indiana-pacers-couple-calls-shaquille-oneal-creepy-horny-uncle-after-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/722105\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman From Viral Indiana Pacers Couple Calls Shaquille O\u2019Neal \u2018Creepy Horny Uncle\u2019 After Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE \u2014 4\/13\/26, 7:37 p.m. ET: Grace, who went viral with her boyfriend Michael at a recent Indiana Pacers game, has clarified her comments about Shaquille O’Neal after her Inside the NBA appearance.<\/p>\n

“I am a private person that has been thrown into the public eye unexpectedly and am doing my best to navigate it with good humor,” she said in a statement shared with Us Weekly. “The two of us had a wonderful time on the show- Shaq did absolutely nothing to make us uncomfortable and I do not view him as \u201ccreepy\u201d at all. I was attempting a joke about my flustered reaction in the midst of a high pressure situation. We have nothing but admiration and appreciation for the hosts hospitality and the joy they’ve brought us over the years. Go Pacers.”<\/p>\n

Original story below:<\/p>\n

One half of the Indiana Pacers<\/a> fan couple that has taken the NBA world by storm over the last week seems to be over the rush of media attention.<\/p>\n

Grace, who went viral with her boyfriend, Michael, after cameras caught them arguing at a Pacers game on Thursday, April 9, even compared Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/a> to a \u201ccreepy horny uncle\u201d following an appearance<\/a> on ESPN\u2019s Inside the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShaq was like a creepy horny uncle trying to embarrass his nephew and I went along with it until the bit got embarrassing and I was like alright chill,\u201d Grace wrote via X<\/a> on Monday, April 13.<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cI\u2019m glad my bf got to meet the people whose videos he shows me constantly but God I am ready to be done with Sports people. I have found u generally exhausting and, forgive me for saying so, I mean this respectfully, not smart in the ways that matter to me. TO ME.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaquille O\u2019Neal Denies Sending \u2018Horny\u2019 DMs to Sabrina Carpenter: \u2018Got Way More Game Than That\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Grace and Michael appeared on Inside the NBA on Sunday, April 12, where O\u2019Neal, 54, told Michael that he would pay for the engagement ring if he proposed to Grace live on the show.<\/p>\n

Michael tried to negotiate, saying, \u201cIf you guys agree to come to the wedding, we\u2019ll do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Michael and Grace ESPN\/X<\/p>\n

But while the studio crew began to talk it over, Grace interrupted to remind everyone that, \u201cI didn\u2019t agree to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added in a separate X post, \u201cAlright i agreed to do this so my boy could talk about BASKETBALL.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the segment, Michael revealed what the couple was arguing about when cameras memorably caught Grace appearing to say to him, \u201cWhat the f*** are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaquille O\u2019Neal Faces Backlash After Making Comments About Angel Reese\u2019s \u2018Little Shorts\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, it was as boring as it could be,\u201d Michael said. \u201cWe were talking about, sort of, the rigors of a liberal arts education and how I thought it needed to be essentially updated for how the future job market looks, and she disagreed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace added, \u201cThe game was kind of interrupting our usual conversation, which is so funny that this went viral.Just really embarrassing stuff. I\u2019m not a huge sports person. Shaq, I love Icy Hot, that\u2019s where I mostly know you from.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neal pressed Michael, saying that he didn\u2019t buy that story, based on Grace\u2019s expression. Michael only replied that the couple prefers to keep their private conversations private.<\/p>\n

Grace first addressed the viral clip Thursday night, sharing it via X and writing, \u201cIM CRYINGGGGGGGG I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND THIS IS JUST HOW WE TALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPDATE \u2014 4\/13\/26, 7:37 p.m. ET: Grace, who went viral with her boyfriend Michael at a recent Indiana…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,2002,6,114,2390,65639],"class_list":["post-722105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indiana-pacers","tag-basketball","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-indianapacers","tag-inside-the-nba","tag-nba","tag-pacers","tag-shaq","tag-shaquille-o39neal"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116494287205058000","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}