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“Remember Kids, I’d Rather Kill Myself Than..”: Shaquille O’Neal’s “Don’t Do Drugs” Appeal Brought Back on Live TV to Drag Aaron Rodgers’ “Psychedelic” Revelation

Published 08/06/2022, 12:30 PM EDT

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Shaquille O’Neal dominated the NBA world for several years. He utilized his brute force to bulldoze past the opponents inside the painted area and put on a spectacle for his supporters every night. Following his retirement, the big man has dabbled in a variety of disciplines, with great success in each.

Shaq is one of the most inspirational people in sports and has always been anti-drug usage. When Shaq was a baby, his birth father struggled with addiction and was jailed for drug possession. However, the big man never allowed it to affect him or steer him astray. That’s what propelled him to become the success story he is today.

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However, recently another legend from the sports realm opened up about his “psychedelic” experience. NFL great Aaron Rodgers spilled the secret to his NFL dominance. The quarterback said that a psychedelic getaway in South America improved his mental health and assisted him to have the best season of his career.

He remarked that returning from South America and capturing his next two MVP awards in 2020 and 2021 was not just a “coincidence”.

Trevor Noah touched upon the topic on his show. He said, “Do you understand how big this is, people? Aaron Rodgers just said, ‘Yo, I took drugs and that’s part of the reason I crushed the game.’ That shows you how much times have changed.”

He then went on to bring back Shaq’s anti-drug appeal from the ’90s. He continued, “Cause you remember back in the ’90s, they’ll bring someone like Shaq on TV to be like, ‘Remember kids, I’d rather kill myself than get high on marijuana. Don’t do drugs!'”

Shaquille O’Neal said he would have killed himself before doing drugs. Well, so would have his father, if he had found Shaq consuming any.

Shaquille O’Neal once revealed that his father had warned him not to dabble with drugs

Phillip A. Harrison was not Shaq’s biological father, but he was the primary father figure in the life of the NBA legend.

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Harrison was rough on Shaq growing up, which the big man credits with molding him into the man he is today.

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According to Shaq, Harrison was always concerned that his son does not make the same mistakes as others. Shaq once discussed the impact of Len Bias’ death on his and his father’s lives in an interview. Len Bias was a former NBA player who died of a cocaine-induced heart attack only days after getting drafted.

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Shaq said, “One tragic story is Len Bias passed away from using cocaine. My father came in the house furious. Furious. If you ever do this, I’ll kill you. You ain’t gonna have time to overdose. I’ll kill you. So I always say you know what, no drugs for me.” 

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Credit to Phillip Harrison, Shaq never went down that drug’s road. Furthermore, the Lakers legend has always expressed gratitude towards Harrison for never letting him get involved with drugs and bad company.

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Written by:

Ritvik Malhotra

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Ritvik is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Having completed his Bachelor's in Journalism and Mass Communication from Amity University, Ritvik has finally got his foot in the door as a professional sports writer. He previously interned at another media house where he authored over 150 soccer articles, but he is now writing about his primary obsession, basketball.
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Edited by:

Pritam Priyedarshi