Entertainment

Don't worry, Shaquille O'Neal doesn't actually think the world is flat

We probably should’ve guessed that he was joking.
We probably should’ve guessed that he was joking. We probably should’ve guessed that he was joking.

You may have noticed a recent swathe of NBA players coming out as “flat Earthers”. First Kyrie Irving revealed he believed the Earth was flat, and then retired player Shaquille O’Neal joined the club… or so we thought.

In mid-March, O’Neal said in no uncertain terms that the theory that the Earth is round is a conspiracy: “I drive from coast to coast, and this s*** is flat to me.”

But now, it turns out that O’Neal was taking us for a ride.

He went on Jordan Harbinger’s The Art Of Charm podcast to clear up any confusion: “I’m joking, you idiots.”

Ah – our bad. Turns out O’Neal doesn’t actually think the Earth is flat (phew) and was playing a very well-executed prank on us.

Britney Spears GIF – Find & Share on GIPHYDiscover & Share this Britney Spears GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

O’Neal says: “This world we live in, people take things too seriously.”

That we can totally agree with, but we can’t be blamed: it was starting to look like an epidemic of flat-Earth beliefs was sweeping the basketball world.

Shaq admits that 80% of the time he’s joking, so be sure to take whatever the retired basketball player says with a pinch of salt.