Keith Olbermann has made a lot of enemies recently over his slandering comments about LSU’s Angel Reese. The list of said enemies is long, ranging from every day fans to sports celebrities. Now, you can count NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal among of the celebrities not pleased with Olbermann. Olbermann is the former anchor of SportsCenter.
Shaq took to Reese’s defense early Monday morning after Olbermann decided to go out of his way to slander the young woman. Olbermann called Reese a “f–king idiot” for taunting Iowa’s Caitlin Clark during the final moments of Sunday’s NCAA National Championship game. Shaq commented on his tweet, taking up for his fellow LSU Tiger. O’Neal was a LSU star from 1989-1992.
Olbermann initially doubled down on his take, giving this explanation:
“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,” Olbermann wrote Sunday on Twitter. “Mindless, classless, and what kind of coach does this team have?”
Reese hit Clark with the famous “You Can’t See Me” wave—a celebration initially made famous by WWE Superstar John Cena. Clark reportedly has been known to do the celebration throughout the NCAA tournament, including recently in their Elite Eight win over Louisville. Reese gave her a taste of her own medicine, in addition to flexing the fact that she and her teammates were about to win a ring.
Olbermann quickly backtracked, claiming that he had no idea that Clark was taunting her opponents prior to Sunday’s loss:
“I apologize for being uninformed last night about the back story on this,” Olbermann wrote. “I don’t follow hoops, college or pro, men or women. I had no idea about Clark. Both were wrong.”
Quite frankly, this doesn’t make what he said any better. Going off his statement, Olbermann displayed willful ignorance in slandering a student-athlete who is only in her Sophomore year. Not just him, either, but a vast majority of NCAA Twitter whose been taking issue with Angel Reese’s taunting of Clark.
Be better.
ANGEL REESE TO CAITLIN CLARK 😳 pic.twitter.com/2NY0CEzwJ3
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 2, 2023
shut your dumb ass up leave angel reese alone.
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 3, 2023