Shaquille O’Neal’s ginormous size was an advantage on the court but outside, it tends to cause him some trouble. Besides adapting things like his vehicles to fit him, he also developed a few crucial habits to be considerate to others. One of his courteous habits, though, got severely misunderstood when he was a rookie. He recounted that tale on this week’s edition of The Big Podcast when old friend and comedian Tom Segura was in the house.

Segura wanted to know if a comedian ever roasted him hard. But Shaq revealed the most embarrassing burn he suffered was from a singer. The artist who cut Shaq down to size was the iconic Sade. He told Segura, “I used to sit up front in shows. And I got embarrassed one day… not by a comedian. So Sade, you know who Sade is?” That would be the Nigerian-British songstress with four Grammy wins, even more nominations, and a 2024 nominee for the Rock and roll Hall of Fame, Helen Folasade Adu, aka Sade.

When then-NBA rookie Shaq first came to Los Angeles, she was having a concert there. Shaq and his cousin dressed up in suits to impress her at the concert. “She was so gorgeous I was just sitting there like mesmerized.” His attempt at a first impression fell flat, however. In the end, when everyone rose to their feet to applaud her, Shaq remained seated. He usually did that to not block people’s view with his 7’1″ frame.

His courtesy to the public was severely misunderstood by Sade, who called him out indirectly. “I want to thank everybody for coming out and some of you rich [expletive] that don’t like to stand up, you shouldn’t even came to the show,” Shaq recalled Sade said on stage.

A flustered Shaq asked his cousin who she was referring to and his cousin said he meant the giant. O’Neal laughs about it now but he was extremely embarrassed back then.

Sade left an impression on Shaquille O’Neal

Though he wanted to keep it between himself and Segura, Shaq blurted on the podcast that he wanted to catch Sade’s eye. So he dressed up fancy in a neat suit. “But I blew that,” by seemingly not applauding her properly. He even admitted he tried to fix it by going backstage to talk to Sade. He doesn’t know if Sade knew he was an NBA pro but security wouldn’t let him in either way.

The incident makes him laugh now and he only has good memories of it. Sade’s beauty and the grandeur of her concert left Shaq with irreplaceable memories. “Last year I was in college, now I’m sitting here watching the show.” He was enjoying the VIP perks too till Sade threw shade at him.

Shaq still keeps his giant size out of spectators’ way by staying seated or sitting at the back. That apparently cost him another kind of embarrassment.