There’s a little bit of a double standard happening in women’s college basketball, and Shaquille O’Neal is coming to Angel Reese’s defense. Louisiana State University reigned over Iowa State this past weekend, taking home the 2023 NCAA national championship. The victory came with controversy after LSU star Angela Reese enjoyed her win by making John Cena’s famous wrestling gesture. She even pointed at her ring finger and taunted Iowa State star, Caitlin Clark. When Iowa beat Louisville last week, Clark made the same motion to mock the defeated.
Later, Clark was even praised by Cena who took to social media with kind words. However, following Angel Reese’s similar display, she was deemed “classless” and rude by the general public. However, she has a fierce defender in Shaq, who has been firing off responses on Twitter. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy shared a video of Reese and added, “Classless piece of sh*t.” In the comments, Shaq added, “And so is your mother.”
Shaq Wages War Against Naysayers
We’re not sure if Portnoy has reacted to Shaq’s immature diss, but he wasn’t the only one to feel the wrath. Countdown podcast host Keith Olbermann also hopped on the microblogging site with Reese criticism. “What a f*cking idiot,” he wrote in a retweet of Reese’s gesture. “Doesn’t matter the gender, the sport, the background – you’re seconds away from a championship and you do something like this and overshadow all the good. Mindless, classless, and what kind of coach does this team have?”
Shaq replied, “Shut your dumb ass up leave angel reese alone.” Later, Olbermann apologized, admitting he wasn’t familiar with what led to Reese’s moment. “I apologize for being uninformed last night about the back story on this.” He added, “I don’t follow hoops, college or pro, men or women. I had no idea about Clark. Both were wrong.” Clark was accused of using the gesture to various teams throughout the season but didn’t face the same backlash. Reese has been unapologetic for her behavior, stating she’s from Baltimore, where people trash talk on the court. Conversations about the controversy continue to run rampant online. Was Angel Reese out of line?