Former professional basketball player Shaquille O'Neal is one of the latest celebrities to speak out against COVID vaccine mandates in the U.S. The 49 year old former athlete, who is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, this week took to his talk show, "The Big Podcast with Shaq" to urge people to make informed choices and "be safe" when it comes to public health, arguing that no one should be "forced" to get vaccinated.
"There's some people that don't wanna take it and you shouldn't have to be forced to take something you don't want," O'Neal declared, as reported by Faithwire.
The former NBA star was then challenged by one of his co-hosts, Nischelle Turner, who disagreed and argued that employers who required workers to get the COVID vaccines do not constitute forcing people to get vaccinated. She added that workers who refused are welcome to quit.
O'Neal appears to have changed his mind on vaccine mandates, as according to Newsweek, the former NBA player criticized the Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving in January for refusing the COVID vaccine. At the time, O'Neal remarked, "If he was on my team I'd have to put hands on him."
O'Neal reasoned, "these windows of winning championships you don't have them a lot. All that stuff just playing on the road, you can't get in no rhythm like that." At the time, the former NBA star also called upon players to be "selfless" and for them to "think about more than yourself."
O'Neal added, "In this line of work, sometimes you have to be selfless. The day I decided it wasn't all about me and it's about us is the day I started winning and really started dominating."
The retired NBA player, who himself is vaccinated, said that he "[understands] the issues" but decided to take the COVID vaccine because of his family and the people around him. He remarked, "I know people say, 'The vaccine came too fast and is it healthy.' To each his own. But sometimes you have to think about the overall picture and you have to think about more than yourself."
O'Neal's new perspective on COVID vaccine mandates came about during a discussion about two New York nurses, Julie DeVouno and Marissa Urraro, who made up to $1.5 million just by printing fake vaccination cards. The two nurses, who worked at a Long Island health care provider, have since been arrested. O'Neal said he understood why the nurses did what they did even if he believes if was wrong because the Biden administration's COVID vaccine mandates are forcing people to go "against [their] morals."
O'Neal isn't the only celebrity who recently spoke out about COVID vaccine mandates. "Lost" and "Ant-Man" star Evangeline Lilly has also protested COVID vaccine mandates on social media and on the streets. According to Variety, the 42 year old actress recently attended a Washington D.C. protest in support of "bodily sovereignty."
"I believe nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will...under any threat whatsoever," Lilly wrote on her Instagram page. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the actress has vocally opposed social distancing and quarantine measures to combat the virus, claiming personal freedom.
