Shaq defends Rihanna amid critics of Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show performance: ‘Shut your face’

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Shaquille O’Neal wants to hear no Rihanna slander following his Super Bowl LVII halftime performance. 

Critics went to social media to take shots at Rihanna’s show, but the former NBA champion had her back on “The Big Podcast with Shaq” this past Friday. 

“All you people disrespecting Rihanna, shut your face. Shut it up,” O’Neal said. “We living in a world where people got too much freedom, keep your f—ing thoughts to yourself.

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© Getty Images Rihanna, who was dressed in all red for her first live performance in seven years, stunned fans when it was revealed she is pregnant with her second child. Getty Images

“She did a wonderful job. She’s pregnant, she blessed it, she did her thing, she didn’t fall. Just leave it there. All you superstars that’s disrespectful and causing beef, shut your face.”

O’Neal mentioned “rappers” and “presidential candidates” in reference to those superstars he brought up. Perhaps former president Donald Trump was who he was pointing fingers at. 

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Trump took to social media to give his opinion on the performance and it wasn’t a nice one. 

“EPIC FAIL: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl History,” he wrote. “This after insulting far more than half of our Nation, which is already in serious DECLINE, with her foul and insulting language. Also, so much for her “Stylist!”

© Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation Rihanna performs during Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation

Trump said in the past that Rihanna, 35, would be “NOTHING” without her stylist. 

Rapper Kodak Black also posted live from State Farm Stadium during halftime while watching the show, saying “Uncle Trump said that s— garbage man.”

Either way, Shaq said if he was dating Rihanna, he’d take matters a bit further than just speaking on the podcast. 

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“If she was my woman and I seen one of you superstars do that, I’m gonna have to get at you,” he said. “Rappers. Presidential candidates. I’m gonna have to get at you. Leave her alone.”

Rihanna also performed pregnant, as a representative of hers confirmed following the show. 

© Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Icy Hot Former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal attends the unveiling of the Shaq Courts at the Doolittle Complex donated by Icy Hot and the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation in partnership with the city of Las Vegas on October 23, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Icy Hot

“She did a wonderful job,” Shaq said. “She’s pregnant. She blessed it. She did her thing. She didn’t fall. Just leave it there. All you superstars that’s disrespectful and causing beef, shut your face.”