JaVale McGee's Mom Goes Off on Shaq for 'Bullying' Her Son

JaVale McGee's mom has weighed in on Shaq's beef with her son, and she's clearly not happy about it.

Shaq is beefing with JaVale McGee.
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Shaq is beefing with JaVale McGee.

The ongoing beef between Shaquille O’Neal and JaVale McGee has taken yet another crazy turn.

If you somehow haven’t been keeping up with the beef over the course of the last week, McGee got very upset with Shaq after TNT’s Inside the NBA ran a Shaqtin’ A Fool segment last Thursday that included a Dr. Strange parody video featuring the Warriors center:

McGee has been featured prominently in Shaqtin' A Fool segments in the past. But he was so upset about this one that he took to Twitter shortly after it aired to fire some shots at Shaq:

And that led to a back-and-forth between the former and current NBA players:

Eventually, Kevin Durant got involved, too, when he decided to stick up for his Golden State teammate, and of course, that didn’t sit well with Shaq. Shaq told KD to mind his business before letting off another shot in McGee’s direction:

Things got so crazy that, over the weekend, Shaq’s mother actually stepped in and told him that it’s time for him to stop messing with McGee. Shaq spoke with The Undefeated reporter Mike Wise and revealed that his mom, Lucille O’Neal, called him after seeing the beef spiral out of control.

"I have orders from the top to leave it alone," Shaq said. "Just say Shaq’s mom called him, told him, 'Stop this silliness. Leave him alone.' So that’s the end of the beef. You won’t be hearing about it from my side anymore. Mama has spoken."

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Shaq’s mom wasn’t the only one who chimed in on the beef, though. The Undefeated also spoke with McGee’s mom Pamela—who is a former WNBA player—and she said that she hopes the NBA doesn’t let Shaq get away with what he said about her son.

"He cyberbullied my son," she said. "Totally inappropriate. Shaquille needs to lose his job or be suspended. The NBA needs to make a stand."

And she also responded to some other comments that Shaq’s mom made, specifically about how "there’s no disrespect personally" between Shaq and McGee. McGee’s mom said that she realizes guys joke around with one another from time to time, but she believes Shaq crossed the line with her son.

"If you really want to get technical with it, it’s bullying," she said. "We all have little jokes and stuff. But when you continue to pick on just one person—as his career is resurrecting—there’s nothing to it but bullying. And it’s unacceptable. You can’t allow someone to continue to do this who represents TNT and the NBA. He is a representative of TNT and the NBA. Broadcasters are held to a higher authority. He should lose his job."

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She also suggested there is a much larger issue at play when it comes to Shaq’s beef with McGee, after pointing out that Shaq has also belittled players like Dwight Howard and Kendrick Perkins in the past.

"He is bullying men of color," she said. "When you bully men of color who play your same position…we as a society have to stop condoning ignorant behavior. And yes, as African-Americans, we have always had individuals who will sell out their communities for two barrels of rum. This is straight-up black-on-black oppression."

And she continued to speak out against Shaq’s hurtful words during what was, according to The Undefeated, a very emotional interview.

"All of us are guilty if we sit back and laugh and condone it," McGee said. "We’re becoming a nation where we now have someone in the White House saying it’s OK to bully and disrespect. Disrespect people who don’t look like us, talk like us, or think like us. All of us should be embarrassed. People say it’s just a TV show, but at the end of the day, these are young men. This is somebody’s son, this is somebody’s family. I now wake up in the morning with a bad taste in my mouth like a dry heave right before I have to throw up. I’m embarrassed by what we’ve become as a society."

You can read The Undefeated’s entire story here to see what else Shaq and his mom had to say about his beef with McGee. It will be interesting to see how the NBA responds to all of this now that it’s clear that McGee and his mom believe Shaq went too far with his most recent comments.

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