Shaq distances himself from Joe Exotic after 'Tiger King' cameo

Shaquille O'Neal has clarified his relationship with former G.W. Exotic Animal Park operator Joe Maldonado, better known as Joe Exotic, following his appearance in Netflix's new documentary series "Tiger King."

The NBA Hall of Famer visited the Oklahoma zoo on multiple occasions and makes a cameo in the first episode of the seven-part series, which covers everything from big cats to a murder-for-hire plot involving Maldonado.

O'Neal spoke about the series on the latest episode of "The Big Podcast With Shaq" and how he came to know Maldonado, who's currently serving a 22-year prison sentence. He explained that he first visited the animal park while traveling by bus to a game between the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder.

"So we go in there, and it's a beautiful place, and the character that was there was Exotic Joe," O'Neal said. "We're there and I dropped some donations for the tigers' foods and all that. We take pictures with (the) tigers. We went back a couple times.

"Then we go back another time and we found out that he's involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going," he continued.

When asked if he thinks the documentary paints him in a bad light, O'Neal further distanced himself from Maldonado.

"I don't harm tigers. I love tigers. I love white tigers," he said. "Do I put donations to these zoos to help these tigers out? I do it all the time. Do I own tigers personally at my house? No. But I love tigers. Listen, people are going to make their own opinions, but, again, I was just a visitor. I met this guy - not my friend. Don't know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on."