At least one NBA star didn't take
Sports Illustrated's bait.
From today's
Los Angeles Daily News:
Can't `enslave' Shaq, either
By Howard Beck
Staff Writer
EL SEGUNDO --
"SHAQ UNCHAINED."
That could have been the headline, and yes, that could have been Shaquille O'Neal in Civil War-era slave pants, shackles and chains on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Charles Barkley struck that controversial pose for last week's edition of the magazine, drawing sharp criticism from newspaper columnists, talk-show hosts and even Barkley's TNT studio-show partner, Kenny Smith.
It could have been O'Neal in the eye of the tempest. Last fall, the magazine proposed the same shot to the Lakers' star, to accompany a story about the impossible challenge NBA teams face trying to contain him.
The proposed photo intrigued him, but O'Neal -- image conscious and a savvy marketer -- declined.
"Because I knew what would happen, what people would think," O'Neal said Monday. "Because there are more negative thinkers in this world than there are positive thinkers."
Using slave imagery, even to promote a positive message -- Barkley is symbolically breaking the chains -- is "real dicey, real dicey," O'Neal said.
Discussing the issue last week on TNT, Barkley made an oblique reference to O'Neal's decision, noting that the photo concept first had been proposed to "one of the three or four most famous athletes in the world."
"I don't want to say he chickened out, but he said, `You know what, I can't take all the heat for it. I'm not going to do it,' " Barkley said. Barkley said he told O'Neal, "If you're good enough to put you on every commercial in the world ... you're good enough to play basketball, be one of the best five players in the world, why can't you say and speak what you want to, and say you're breaking away from this?"
O'Neal said the photo doesn't necessarily offend him.
"I think one actual part made it look it like slavery. I think if he would have took the neck (shackle) off and just had the chains, I think he could have gotten away with it," O'Neal said. "But I didn't look at it as `slavery,' I look at it as, `you can't enslave him.' That's the way I look at that. People when they look at stuff, you have the negative thinker and you have the positive thinker.
"However, Charles has always been that type. What it is, is negative marketing to keep his name out there," O'Neal said. "But I don't look at it as going back to slavery times. I look at it as, `I'm a guy, I'm strong, you can't enslave me.'
"I'm not saying I'm offended or not offended (by the image). I just don't pay it any mind. Charles is going to always be Charles."
Charles Barkely
. I'm not surprised that he agreed to pose for the layout that way, nor am I shocked that he supports it.
"Sugar Shaq" turns SI down
Linear Mode
