Shaq was accused of sending explicit requests to Sabrina Carpenter, and now he’s finally revealing the bizarre details of the viral scandal

Shaquille O’Neal has finally addressed the wild rumors swirling online that he slid into Sabrina Carpenter’s DMs with some seriously explicit requests, setting the record straight on his podcast The Big Podcast. The NBA legend didn’t just deny it; he read the alleged, cringe-inducing messages aloud, proving that sometimes the internet just makes things up for a laugh.

These strange claims popped up earlier this month, quickly going viral with screenshots that supposedly showed the NBA Hall of Famer sending some truly bizarre texts. According to Unilad, the screenshots were from an account alleged to belong to Shaquille O’Neal. But as they spread online, many quickly pointed out that the tone and wording didn’t match how Shaq usually speaks or presents himself publicly.

“First of all, ladies, the Diesel got way more game than that,” he said on his podcast, referring to himself by his DJ name. “I’m just saying.” He was clearly amused by the whole thing, bringing on rapper Jim Jones as a guest and asking him, “is this me or not me?” before diving into the alleged messages.

No way people actually believed those DMs were real

The first fake text was truly something else: “Damn, baby, I would keep your farts in a cologne bottle and spray it on me every day. Just jokes, I’m Shaq. What’s your name, baby?” The alleged response from the ‘Manchild’ singer was equally unreal: “I know who you are. You’re way too famous to be sending messages like that.”

Shaq continued to read the fabricated exchange: “I can’t be horny and want some of that snow bunny kitty for no reason. You can’t handle Big Diesel anyway. My meat would have you in the hospital. Can we find out?” Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? Jim Jones was understandably shocked, calling the fake DMs “wild.” He even singled out the “farts in a cologne bottle” line as “crazy,” adding, “That’s the illest line I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Shaq was able to joke about the whole ordeal, theorizing that “youngsters” probably cooked it up, purely focused on “the algorithm and going viral.” Jones chimed in, pointing out, “It’s so crazy what people are spending their energy and time on. I would think they would have better things to do.” He’s not wrong; the creativity here is misguided, especially as the world confronts the darker side of AI.

For her part, Sabrina Carpenter hasn’t publicly said a word about these fake texts, which is probably for the best. She’s reportedly single after her split from Barry Keoghan in 2024. Shaq, on the other hand, is a father to six children: Taahirah (29), with ex-girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh, and Myles (28), Shareef (26), Amirah (24), Shaqir (22), and Me’arah (19), with ex-wife Shaunie Henderson.

This isn’t actually the first time O’Neal has had to clear the air about social media rumors. Just last year, he had to shut down claims that he was dating OnlyFans model Sophie Rain. People started speculating after they were spotted together in a nightclub, with some commenters even bringing up their 33-year age gap. O’Neal quickly squashed those rumors with an Instagram comment, saying, “I don’t [date] that young but I will date your mom and give u a brother.”

He later clarified in a now-deleted comment, that he was simply DJing and the 21-year-old “came to my party,” urging people to “stop tryna create rumors.”