Shaquille O’Neal has never been afraid to speak his mind, and he has done it again. He recently came to the defense of Dallas Morning News reporter Meghan Mangrum after she was fired for a comment she made on Twitter toward Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.
Johnson tweeted in February that the local media in Dallas has no interest in reporting that the crime numbers for the city have been down.
Mangrum responded, “Bruh, national news is always going to chase the trend. Cultivate relationships with quality local news partnerships.”
Johnson replied, “Bruh? Have we met?”
Mangrum eventually deleted her tweet, but it didn’t help her save her job. She was hired in August 2022 and didn’t make it to her one-year anniversary.
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O’Neal was asked by his co-host Spice Adams in the recent episode of his podcast “The Big Podcast with Shaq” about the situation.
“This world is getting too soft. You know what; I cannot wait till I check into my god***n old folks home, that I will own. You kidding me, you fired a lady coz she said ‘bruh.’ Come on though; stop it,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal wasn’t the only one to think that firing the reporter was a bit too much. Comments on Twitter were in support of Mangrum and suggested that the Dallas mayor had something to do with it.
Another comment read, “You can bet it was the Mayor that wanted her gone to send a msg to other reporters. It wasn’t the “bruh” that did it, it was the story itself that made him look bad. Because that’s how Demorats roll. They will eat their own if they get out of line even a little bit.”
As for O’Neal, those who have followed his off-the-court career might have thoughts as to whether he’ll reach out to the reporter to offer her some sort of financial support.
He has made headlines for a number of his goodwill moments, such as buying engagement rings for a couple during a time that he was mall shopping, buying groceries for families, supporting countless charities, and for his efforts to assist Black-owned businesses with post-pandemic recovery.
Mangrum doesn’t seem to have spoken to any media outlets about the matter, but she did write a column on Medium.com to share her thoughts. She also tweeted, less than 24 hours ago, a picture of a moving van with the caption “2023 is going swell.”
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