Watch Shaquille O’Neal School Jimmy Fallon At Lip Sync Battle
Shaquille O’ Neal has said and done a lot of insane things in the past like taking on wrestler “Big Show” on WWE’s Monday Night Raw and joking that the earth is flat.
But the NBA Hall of Famer’s recent antics on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon might just top all that, after he schooled the talk show host in a game of lip syncing.
The Tonight Show audience saw Shaquille O’Neal fake-perform two songs and bust some moves with a female fan.
Pit Bull also joined in on the fun, lip syncing to a song clip with the towering former basketball player.
Fallon initiated the lip sync battle to show Shaq how it’s done.
“Since we both have Irish last names, my first song is a classic by House of Pain. It’s called Jump Around,” he told Shaquille, then descended into a low bow.
Shaq, standing on the sidelines, rallied the audience to clap their hands and make some noise.
Fallon did a perfect impression of DJ Muggs, with his hip-hop hand gestures, while Shaquille bobbed his head to the beat and looked on.
When it was his turn, the seven-foot-tall former basketball star and rapper set aside the mic.
“I’m not gonna need this,” he informed the audience and told them that he’s “bringing 1988 back” with his rendition of Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative.”
He winced as he fake-struggled to hit the notes. It wasn’t too long until he plucked a woman out of the crowd and started dancing with her. Fallon couldn’t contain his laughter as the crowd cheered Shaq and the woman on.
The stakes got higher when Pit Bull suddenly emerged from the side of the stage and entered the frame.
Jimmy said he didn’t expect Pit Bull would team up with Shaq.
“That’s not fair,” he told Shaquille. “I didn’t know you had a special guest, I would have upped my game.”
Tonight Show Music Break: @pitbull ft. @stephenmarley kick off #FallonOrlando with a performance of "Options" https://t.co/rQGA52oJlP pic.twitter.com/v2NI75dryr
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) April 4, 2017
Determined to get back at Shaq, Fallon excused himself to change costumes, and broke into a rendition of Ariana Grande and John Legend’s version of “Beauty and the Beast,” playing both artists.
To cap off the lip-sync duel, Shaq challenged Jimmy to a duet, to which Fallon hesitantly agreed. While waiting for the music cue, Shaq kneaded Jimmy’s shoulders, eliciting some laughs from the audience. The song was Elton John and Kiki Dee’s karaoke favorite “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”
The real shocker of the rendition though was when Shaq kissed Jimmy on the cheek and slapped his butt. Shaq carried Jimmy in his arms as they finished the bit.
Watch it all happen here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvq1qSHYjE
Shaquille O’Neal was honored with a bronze statue by the Los Angeles Lakers last month at the Staples Center. The sculpture, which was unveiled by Shaq’s son, depicted a likeness of Shaq finishing a dunk. It stands 2.74 meters tall and weighs about 544 kilograms, according to Newshub.
His other public activities include a speaking engagement with the Boys and Girls Club of Middle Tennessee Great Futures Gala at the Omni Hotel on Saturday.
While there, he told reporters that the SEC has proven itself to be “a strong basketball conference” and praised Kentucky and Florida for making it to the Elite Eight with South Carolina, the Tennessean reported.
“The SEC has always been a tough basketball conference. Unfortunately because of Alabama and certain other schools it will always be known as a football conference,” O’Neal said.
“Congratulations to those teams that made it to the Elite Eight. Some teams in the conference didn’t do well, including my school LSU. But overall there are some really good teams in the conference and they proved it in the (NCAA) tournament,” he was quoted as saying by the Tennessean.
[Featured Image by Kevork Djansezian/File/AP Images]
