- Shaquille O'Neal largely avoids discussing his feud with Kobe Bryant in the new HBO docuseries "Shaq."
- O'Neal specifically declines to comment on Bryant's 2003 rape trial and Bryant's allegations to detectives that O'Neal had paid hush money to women.
In HBO's new four-part docuseries, "Shaq," NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal is candid and forthcoming about many aspects of his life and career.
Robert Alexander, the series director, told Insider that O'Neal was remarkably open, willing to discuss almost anything.
"He is very honest and can be an incredibly powerful emotional figure and incredibly vulnerable figure," Alexander said.
"And there are times when he — and he would be honest about it — there's times where there were things I'd ask him about that, he's like, 'I don't wanna talk about that. I don't wanna say anything about that.' But he was always honest about it, and he was direct about it."
One of those subjects was apparently his rivalry and feud with the late Kobe Bryant.
Indeed, the series only shows one moment where O'Neal declines to discuss a topic: Bryant's 2003 rape trial, specifically the allegations Bryant made to investigators that O'Neal had paid hush money to women.
"It's the 'R-word' that will never be dropped," O'Neal says as the series focuses on the fallout between O'Neal, Bryant, and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04. "He ain't gonna disrespect me, and I sure ain't gonna disrespect him. One time he did, but I don't need to talk about that. I'll let you retrieve that information from someone else. It was only one incident, but I don't wanna talk about it."
The series then shows a newspaper clip about Bryant's alleged comments.
"The split between the two of them was greater than ever due to multiple things, one of them being Kobe's deposition," former Lakers coach Phil Jackson says in the documentary.
The Los Angeles Times had reported in 2004 that while speaking to Eagle County, Colorado, detectives over rape allegations made by a hotel employee, Bryant said O'Neal had paid $1 million in hush money to women.
According to the LA Times, the comments were made after detectives had turned off their recorders. The incident report, written by Det. Doug Winters, read: "Bryant stated he should have done what Shaq does. Bryant stated that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything. He stated Shaq has paid up to a million dollars already for situations like this."
O'Neal has reportedly declined to speak to investigators, and his agent Perry Rogers said in a statement that Bryant's comments were "undeserving of a response."
O'Neal and Bryant had already been feuding fairly publicly for years over numerous mostly on-court issues: control of the offense, O'Neal's conditioning, Bryant's attitude, and more.
The series still touches on O'Neal and Bryant's rift, but it is largely told through other voices in the series, like Jackson, Lakers owner Jeannie Buss, and former Lakers guards Rick Fox and Derek Fisher. When O'Neal does comment on it, it's largely about their issues on the court.
Alexander told Insider that Bryant's family had asked that there be minimal footage of him used in the series. With Bryant's untimely death in a helicopter crash in 2020, Alexander said they also wanted to be fair and respectful of the reality that they couldn't get Bryant's perspective on issues.
Since Bryant's passing, O'Neal has spoken about regretting their feud and the years where the two men didn't speak to each other. O'Neal and Bryant had grown closer and more friendly in retirement. They did a sit-down special in 2018 where they discussed their rivalry and laughed about it.
In the series, O'Neal seemingly downplays their rift, suggesting that it only received attention because of their star power.
"I can say that Kobe and I were the most enigmatic, most controversial, most dominant 1-2 punch ever created in all of the game," O'Neal says in the doc. "Twenty years ago. That happened 20 years ago, and you're still talking. A lot of people like to talk about this and that — you don't know what was going on. I know what was going on because I controlled it. I knew exactly what I was doing when I would leak stories and this and that. I knew exactly what I was doing because that's what I do. Because you're screaming two names: Kobe and Shaq."