One young girl’s quinceañera is going to be a memory of a lifetime. Because she just got a present from someone she’d least expect. Shaquille O’Neal is quite busy in New York while filming Gravesend. What no one thought, that he’d carve out time in his busy schedule for a necessity and a sweet little gesture. All this was revealed by a local business owner, complete with a wholesome video showing Shaq making her customers very, very happy. After all, the big man’s mission is to spread smiles.

This happened on Staten Island during the 4th of July weekend. The Gravesend crew had been sharing several updates on Shaq during filming in different parts of New York. On Friday at the O’Couture Boutique in Dongan Hills, business was usual till a big surprise arrived in a cortege of three SUVs.

The video was shared on the store’s official social media where they wrote, “LOOK WHO’S IN THE HOUSE TODAY 🔥🏀 @shaq the ONE & ONLY stopped into @o_coutureboutique_ today. We don’t lie when we say this is the best place to be in NYC 🔥 With Shaq in the building everyone gets a dress!!” The incident quickly made it onto local media.

Loretta Opre, the boutique’s manager (who not so coincidentally resides and commutes from the real Gravesend) said, “I looked outside, and I saw Shaq standing at the door, and I was like, you look like Shaq, and he said, ‘I wish.’” Record scratch, freeze frame. I wish? Understandably Opre even doubted her own eyes. But not for long. Once she realized the 7 foot giant is really Big Shaq, she approached him again to ask, “Did you just lie to me?”

According to Opre, O’Neal started laughing and asked if he could use the bathroom. At that point, she was more honest than he was when she said, “I said, yeah, but I don’t think you will fit.” O’Neal entered the store anyway, and they shared the moment on social media.

Among the customers in the store were 14-year-old Karmin and her mom, Diana Perez, who drove eight hours from Virginia to find a dress for Karmin’s quinceañera – the traditional 15th birthday celebration in Latin American culture. Shaq can be seen taking pictures with the customers and staff. Though there’s no audio, he seemingly gave input on some of the customers’ dress selections.

“They were loving him, he was such a sweet guy, and he also offered to pay for everybody. So he paid for all the girls’ dresses, and it was just awesome,” Opre said. So yeah, not only did Karmin and Diana find mother-daughter dresses that fit their theme, but also got them as presents from Shaquille O’Neal.

Kindness with a side of fib by Shaquille O’Neal

As he said once before, “My favorite thing to do is when I’m in Best Buy, Walmart, if I see a kid, get them something that I see he’s looking at,” this is not uncommon for Shaq. His kids, like Myles, Taahirah, and Shareef, proudly recalled several instances going shopping for their dad he puts everyone’s purchases on his tab.

He does have a silly tendency to fib in these moments too. In one instance while at a Louisiana Best Buy in 2023, Shaq bought two Samsung Galaxy Z Flip phones, one for himself and one for another customer. Funnily, Shaq is an Apple guy and supposedly gift the other Android to someone else.

Similar to how he always fails to go incognito, Shaq’s lie didn’t hold up against Opre here. But he wasn’t lying about why he was at the store, though.

In the video shared on the boutique’s official social media, Shaq’s wearing the same outfit from BTS clips of Gravesend, including those shared by co-star, Peter Gunz. He got pictures with everyone and seemingly did enquire about the restroom before going into one.

The entire incident on the Fourth created quite the stir and was extremely endearing. O’Couture was extremely grateful to the gentle giant for the experience as they directly tagged him. “@shaq Thank you for coming in and truly making the employees and customers day! Always a fun day here a O’Couture 🤍”

Fans under this post were thrilled by Shaq’s gesture. Locals are especially happy to have Shaq in the area being the big teddy bear he is.

Gravesend is still in production and set to premiere later in the year or early 2026. Until then, county locals can expect more wholesome Shaq.