Shaquille O'Neal threatened Warriors center Javale McGee over Twitter after McGee took offense to being included in a parody video
Golden State Warriors reserve center JaVale Mcgree has long been a favorite target of Shaquille O'Neal.
The journeymen center, whose highlight-reel mistakes have often overshadowed his on-court contributions, have made him a mainstay on O'Neal's blooper reel "Shaqin' a Fool" for years.
On Thursday, in lieu of O'Neal's typical countdown of bloopers, TNT aired a "Doctor Strange" parody featuring McGee's biggest bloopers throughout his career.
McGee did not take kindly to the video. After the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 123-113 on Thursday, McGee took to Twitter with a colorful and explicit message for O'Neal.
O'Neal did not like McGee's response to the video, so he decided to respond, threatening to fight McGee.
McGee then called O'Neal out for the threat. According to Yahoo's Dan Devine, McGee was also making a reference to a past criticism of O'Neal's "Shaqtin' a Fool":
"We remind you that McGee has, on separate occasions, referred to Shaq's signature segment as "Shaqtin' a Coon" and compared O'Neal to a minstrel, the comedic performers of the 19th century who performed in blackface and lampooned black people as lazy buffoons."
O'Neal pressed on:
But McGee stood his ground:
O'Neal had one more retort:
From there, the barbs concluded.
It's a bit of an ugly result from a segment that's supposed to be funny. McGee, rightfully, has gotten tired of being the butt of the joke, though O'Neal is well within his range to laugh at a player who has frequently found himself on the blooper reels.
It may not be surprising if the NBA steps in here, as it's not a great look for a prominent NBA voice and a player on the NBA's best team to be exchanging threats.