Shaq Rejects Celebrity Identity and Cancel Culture

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Shaq recently spoke with the New York Post to publicize the fact that he no longer considers himself a celebrity.

While Shaq is a larger-than-life figure, in both fame and physical size, he rejects being categorized as a celebrity as he finds it embarrassing.

In his own words, he stated that…

“These celebrities are going freaking crazy and I don’t want to be one. I denounce my celebrity-ness today. I’m done with it”.

We can’t be sure what specific event or events sparked these statements, but Shaq seems to be frustrated with the elitism possessed by today’s celebrity class. This is evident from the following statement:

“But, just because I made it doesn’t mean I’m bigger than you, smarter than you — just because I have more money doesn’t mean I’m better than you. I’ve never been that way and I never will be that way. So I don’t want to be in that category of people”.

From what we have seen from celebrities in recent years, this mentality is completely foreign to them. Many accept offers to speak at the DNC or at the White House to forward explicitly leftist political agendas. They believe that their political views are morally and intellectually superior to the rest of the country, despite not having notable experience in the real world.

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Shaq doesn’t want to be acknowledged as a celebrity, instead, he just wishes to be recognized as a genuine and kind human being.

To check his ego, Shaq tries to do two random acts of kindness each week.

While most of these acts go unnoticed, there are some that have caught the public’s eye. Such as this incident, where Shaq purchased an engagement ring for a man struggling to pay off his debt to a jewelry store:

"I'm just trying to make people smile... That's all."@SHAQ helped a young man out at a local jewelry store by paying for his engagement ring. pic.twitter.com/eK8n0YHGb7
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 7, 2021

It is great that we have individuals in the public eye that display such genuine acts of kindness. Shaq has spoken on this subject recently as it relates to cancel culture. He claims that cancel culture is a plague that affects all industries. Shaq, unlike other celebrities, acknowledges that he is not perfect. He states that “if he makes a mistake, he wants you to learn from his mistake”. However, cancel culture makes this impossible as once an individual is “canceled” they are categorized as an irredeemable human being.

Shaq continued this line of thinking, saying that he is “a real model, not a role model”. This statement seems to insinuate that in today’s society we are too quick to remove public figures that have made “mistakes” or violated certain norms when we all inherently do this as human beings.

You can find Shaq’s statement on cancel culture here from the Fullsend podcast:

Shaq talks on cancel culture. New FULLSEND Podcast EP LIVE NOWhttps://t.co/1K96F9bACh pic.twitter.com/iyNf2yjSzM
— NELK (@nelkboys) August 26, 2021

The bottom line is that Shaq is displeased with the current culture war and where celebrities stand in it.

He is uncomfortable with being grouped into the celebrity stereotype as he does not believe that this accurately represents him as a genuine and kind person. Further, he has a strong distaste for cancel culture as it only serves to remove genuine people, like himself, from the public square who can make mistakes from time to time.