Why Shaquille O’Neal recently apologized to Drake

During an episode of The Big Podcast last Friday, Shaquille O’Neal apologized to Drake after he posted an edited photo where the face of a bikini-clad woman the retired NBA champion was hanging out with was replaced with that of the rapper’s.

O’Neal, 52, and the woman were on a boat in the original photo. But the edited image O’Neal shared showed Drake’s face replaced with the woman’s while BBL Drizzy – Metro Boomin’s diss song to the Canadian rapper – was being played in the background.

“Let me apologize right quick. I sent out a picture the other day. The mistake I made was that I should’ve said, ‘Who did this?’ Because I want Drake to know…,” O’Neal said in reference to the altered image, per PEOPLE.

The Los Angeles Lakers legend added: “Listen, Drake has a great sense of humor, so I thought it was funny that they did it. I don’t want him to think — like, I saw ‘Shaq’s trolling.’ No, I’m not trolling.”

The television sports analyst also clarified the image was edited by another person – not him. “Somebody Photoshopped it and I actually saw it and I took the picture,” he explained.

“So, Drake, I apologize. I should have put ‘Who was this?’ on there, because I don’t want you to think I did that. Somebody sent it to me, I thought it was funny, and hopefully you thought it was funny, too. But once it went viral, I definitely took it down. But, so, my bad, big Drake.”

Drake and Kendrick Lamar are embroiled in what has been described as one of the most high-profile and heavily discussed hip-hop feuds in recent history. Over several weeks, the two renowned emcees traded jabs and also made scathing allegations against each other in their respective diss songs.

Their feud, however, has seemingly died down after Kendrick released his Not Like Us diss track to the Way 2 Sexy rapper on May 4.