Shaquille O'Neal under fire for being "racist"...

[Guest Downhome]

Just discuss...

 

LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal said he was joking, not being a racist, when he used a mock Chinese accent while talking about Houston center Yao Ming.

 

 

O'Neal

 

 

 

 

A columnist for AsianWeek complained in his newspaper that O'Neal made several derogatory comments recently about Yao, with the Lakers' center saying, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.'''

 

 

"I said it jokingly, so this guy was just trying to stir something up that's not there. He's just somebody who doesn't have a sense of humor, like I do. I don't have to have a response to that (the charges of racism) because the people who know me know I'm not,'' O'Neal said Friday before Los Angeles' game against Cleveland.

 

 

"I mean, if I was the first one to do it, and the only one to do it, I could see what they're talking about. But if I offended anybody, I apologize.''

 

 

Yao, asked about the comments prior to Houston's game at Atlanta, said he believed O'Neal was joking.

 

 

"There are a lot of difficulties in two different cultures understanding each other. Especially two very large countries. The world is getting smaller and I think it's important to have a greater understanding of other cultures. I believe Shaquille O'Neal was joking but I think that a lot of Asian people don't understand that kind of joke,'' Yao said.

 

 

"Chinese is hard to learn. I had trouble with it when I was little,'' Yao joked.

 

 

O'Neal recently received an NAACP Young Leaders Award.

 

 

He acknowledged that his attempts at humor don't always work.

 

 

"Over my 11 years in the NBA, I know for a fact that most of you guys are going to write what you want to write, and it's our job to either defend it or just let it go. At times I try to be a comedian,'' he said. "Sometimes I make a good joke and sometimes it's a bad joke.

 

 

"That's just the ups and downs of trying to be a comedian.''

 

 

Lakers coach Phil Jackson was certain O'Neal was just kidding.

 

 

"It's an unfortunate situation. I'm sure that Shaq had no meaning like that behind it. I'm sure he was just doing something that was fun-loving or something he thought was humorous,'' Jackson said.

 

 

"The meeting between Shaq and Yao Ming next Friday (in Houston ) is going to be an interesting one, anyway, so it should bring a lot of interest to the game.''

 

 

Yao is leading O'Neal for the starting Western Conference center spot in fan balloting for the NBA All-Star game.

 

...there you go.

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[Guest bob_barron]

Eh- Shaq was just having some fun. I have no problem with it

[Guest The Czech Republic]

He acknowledged that his attempts at humor don't always work.

Dude he ain't lying...I saw Kazaam!

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Hey, I saw Steel. I know his humor doesn't work.

 

But if Yao doesn't care, neither should we.

[Guest meanmaisch]

Yao Ming showed more intelligence in that one statement than Shaq has shown in his entire career.

[Guest Human Fly]

Jim Rome talked about this today on his show and brought up a possible double standard in the NBA.

 

An Asian reported said that if a white player taunted a black player with monkey noises and then just dismissed it as kidding like Shaq did after what he said about Yao that he would get fined, suspended and all kinds of other stuff. But, because Yao is Chinese he is fair game.

 

I'll wait for the NBA to prove me wrong but until they take any action I've got to agree with that.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Agreed. I don't give a crap about this story (not the story itself -- I just don't think the issue is that big a deal).

 

HOWEVER, I remember that former Lakers announcer that said some black player was hanging on to the b-ball rim long enough that he looked like a monkey hanging from a branch (my statement may not be 100% accurate, but the idea is there), and people wanted him to resign.

 

But since I'm part of the race that keeps everyone down I have no say in minority-on-minority hate speech...

[Guest Downhome]

I want to say that I don't see anything wrong with it all, I get sick and tired of morons acting politically correct all of the damn time, enough is enough! HOWEVER...

 

...I will say that I promise to you all, that had this been a white guy making fun of a black, that the NBA, the NAACP, and every other moron out there would be all over it, putting presure on whoever to get something VERY bad done to whoever did it, it's just wrong and I hate it.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Yep, Jesse Jackson would get on the horn and demand equal representation for minorities in the NBA.

 

Oh, wait. Nevermind...

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

This doesn't even come close to the dumbest Shaq statement of all time:

 

Shaq: "I'm like the Pythagorean Theorem, there's no answer to my game".

 

This being the mathematical theorem for which more proofs are known than any other in existence.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

LOL -- at least he tried...

[Guest Anglesault]

"Shaq" is a proven dumb fuck. He can't help himself. He has the IQ of turtle wax. I mean this is the guy who misspelled "Period" when trying to make a point in a press conference

[Guest TUS_02]

You also have to remember that Shaq is THEE poster boy for the NBA. They can't do anything to their golden child... they don't want to piss him off.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Shaq should be under fire for being ignorant.

[Guest Still Fly]

Common guys Shaq admitted he was wrong, apologized lets move on. Downhome whether you like it or not there will always be a double standard when it comes to black-white realtions in this country. Being a black person i can understand your rage and disgust with the standard. its not fair but life it not fair.

Black and whites will always have a general mistrust in their realtions. Just look at the track record. Slavery, discrimination, and not getting basic rights. But the point is that white people just cant say things that black people can get away with. Its just the way it is. Sorry.

[Guest papacita]

Black and whites will always have a general mistrust in their realtions. Just look at the track record. Slavery, discrimination, and not getting basic rights. But the point is that white people just cant say things that black people can get away with. Its just the way it is. Sorry

I know where you're coming from with that, but as black folks, we can't expect whites or anyone else to take our claims of racism seriously when we ourselves are disrespecting other races.

 

As for Shaq, the comment was in poor taste, but as long as he didn't mean any harm, I say forget about it.

[Guest Sassquatch]

So far the local writers and papers down here have blown the story off as PC-dribble and a way to try and make Shaq look bad when all he was doing was joking around with Yao.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Black and whites will always have a general mistrust in their realtions. Just look at the track record. Slavery, discrimination, and not getting basic rights. But the point is that white people just cant say things that black people can get away with. Its just the way it is. Sorry

I know where you're coming from with that, but as black folks, we can't expect whites or anyone else to take our claims of racism seriously when we ourselves are disrespecting other races.

 

As for Shaq, the comment was in poor taste, but as long as he didn't mean any harm, I say forget about it.

Is Yao or any other player was to make a racist comment about Shaq and then say "I meant nothing by it"...it wouldn't have mattered if he meant "nothing by it"...but since it was Shaq I guess it's ok.

[Guest papacita]

Black and whites will always have a general mistrust in their realtions. Just look at the track record. Slavery, discrimination, and not getting basic rights. But the point is that white people just cant say things that black people can get away with. Its just the way it is. Sorry

I know where you're coming from with that, but as black folks, we can't expect whites or anyone else to take our claims of racism seriously when we ourselves are disrespecting other races.

 

As for Shaq, the comment was in poor taste, but as long as he didn't mean any harm, I say forget about it.

Is Yao or any other player was to make a racist comment about Shaq and then say "I meant nothing by it"...it wouldn't have mattered if he meant "nothing by it"...but since it was Shaq I guess it's ok.

If you're talking about me personally, I can honestly say that it wouldn't matter either way.

[Guest Anglesault]

I think it has alot to do with Shaq being as stupid as he is. If a toddler goes on a cursing spree, they don't understand what they are doing, so you explain that what they did is wrong, but you don't severely punish them. The same applies to O'Neal.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Black and whites will always have a general mistrust in their realtions. Just look at the track record. Slavery, discrimination, and not getting basic rights. But the point is that white people just cant say things that black people can get away with. Its just the way it is. Sorry

I know where you're coming from with that, but as black folks, we can't expect whites or anyone else to take our claims of racism seriously when we ourselves are disrespecting other races.

 

As for Shaq, the comment was in poor taste, but as long as he didn't mean any harm, I say forget about it.

Is Yao or any other player was to make a racist comment about Shaq and then say "I meant nothing by it"...it wouldn't have mattered if he meant "nothing by it"...but since it was Shaq I guess it's ok.

If you're talking about me personally, I can honestly say that it wouldn't matter either way.

I'm saying how the media would treat it mostly.

[Guest Johnson1620]

I got to agre, if a white guy said some shit like that even towards Yao Ming, he would have been crucified. But Shaq is an ass so that explains the statement. The double standard shit will never cease to piss me off.

[Guest starvenger]

Jim Rome talked about this today on his show and brought up a possible double standard in the NBA.

 

An Asian reported said that if a white player taunted a black player with monkey noises and then just dismissed it as kidding like Shaq did after what he said about Yao that he would get fined, suspended and all kinds of other stuff. But, because Yao is Chinese he is fair game.

 

I'll wait for the NBA to prove me wrong but until they take any action I've got to agree with that.

You know, I've always wondered if there would have been a giant uproar if Fuzzy Zoeller had made jokes about Tiger Woods setting pad Thai, green curried squid and bok choy on the Masters menu instead of fried chicken etc. Probably not, because most Asian people (myself included) would have recognized it as something so insanely stupid that it would have been ignored.

[Guest NoCalMike]

I truly think Shaq was just kidding/joking around, however if a white player said the same thing, he would NEVER live it down with simply saying, "come on now, I was just joking"

[Guest So what? I liked bubble boy]

"You want five hundred dollars?" Five hundred dollars. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Youth N Asia]

"You want five hundred dollars?" Five hundred dollars. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm with you man...Bubbleboy kicked ass

 

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLA!

[Guest the saiyan prince]

He acknowledged that his attempts at humor don't always work.

Dude he ain't lying...I saw Kazaam!

amen brotha i too saw kazaam and steel trust me shaq on the court good the daddy in the movie oh no. but i think that the chinese reporters were trying to protect thier player from slander and racism they no shaq isn't a racist but they were just on thier guard

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Off topic.

 

Why doesn't Yao Ming talk. Steve Francis and Wilbon or Kornheiser said his English is fine, and he can hold a conversation. Does he wanna speak perfect English, or is he pulling a Bartolo Colon were he doesn't wanna talk to the media.

[Guest starvenger]

Off topic.

 

Why doesn't Yao Ming talk. Steve Francis and Wilbon or Kornheiser said his English is fine, and he can hold a conversation. Does he wanna speak perfect English, or is he pulling a Bartolo Colon were he doesn't wanna talk to the media.

He does speak some English in conversations/interviews, but it's likely that he doesn't have things like figures of speech down. Don't forget that he's speaking in English but he's still thinking in Chinese, and translation is an imperfect science.

[Guest Sassquatch]

Yao is probably uncomfortable talking to the media in English because he doesn't want to look like a goof in front of the camera if/when he does do a full interview in English.

 

It's all about first impressions and Yao does not want to look bad.