Shaquille O’Neal prompted strong reactions from his Inside the NBA cohosts after showing off his not-so-pleasant feet live on air.
The moment happened on the show’s Thursday, January 23, episode after Charles Barkley noted he got his weekly “mani-pedi.” While he now leaves the job up to professionals, Charles, 61, recalled how his daughter, Christiana Barkley, used to “do my toenails,” nail polish and all, when she was “really little.”
“Yeah, mine too,” Shaq, 52, added.
Reacting to his cohosts’ revelations, Kenny Smith likened making their kids clean up their toenails to a punishment. “You don’t do your homework, you’re gonna have to do my nails,” he joked.
Shaq, for his part, stated that his toes “are not ugly,” and proceeded to take off one of his shoes and place his right foot up on the desk. “Look at those nails, man,” Ernie Johnson Jr. quipped, while Smith, 59, remarked, “Your feet look like a bald eagle’s feet.”
The state of Shaq’s feet threw Barkley off so much that he struggled to transition into the next segment. “I need time to say something serious, but I can’t do it right now,” he stated.
Thursday’s episode of Inside the NBA is not the first time Shaq has let his dogs out on TV. Viewers got an up-close look at the athlete’s feet on a February 2022 episode of NBA on TNT. “That’s not ash. That’s dry skin,” he said after facing critique from Dwyane Wade, Adam Lefkoe and Candace Parker.
Leaving this here for whoever wants an update on Shaq’s feet. pic.twitter.com/w6JZPEBgnw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 24, 2025
After Lefkoe, 37, offered an apology to viewers, Shaq stated: “I do not apologize for what I do.”
Last year, Shaq revealed that he drops big bucks on pedicures to keep his feet in top shape. “I give about $1,000 because I know my feet stink, I know they’re ugly and I like to paint them,” he admitted on a March 2024 episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq” podcast. “I want them to look pretty.”
He added: “True story, one time I had a toenail that was torn off and I wasn’t going to play a game, and my mom was like, ‘Why you not playing the game?’ I was like, ‘I tore my toenail off.’”
Shaq’s latest foot moment comes on the heels (pun not intended) of reports that he and Smith signed new deals with TNT Sports. CNBC Sport reported on Thursday that Shaq is set to five-year contract with the network, while Smith’s contract will be a “multiyear deal,” as well.
Shaq had another viral Inside the NBA moment late last year, as Smith once again succeeded in pushing his cohost into the set’s Christmas tree. “I have gifts for Christmas. … Shaq, I can’t get yours because it’s too heavy,” Smith told his colleague during a December 2024 episode. As Shaq leaned down to pick up his gift, Smith nudged him from behind.
“Every year we get him, baby,” Smith exclaimed while bursting into laughter. “We get him once a year, man.”