TNT’s
Shaquille O’Neal appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last night, with host
Jimmy Kimmel telling the audience during his monologue, “We have a big and tall show for you tonight." Kimmel noted the last time O’Neal was a guest on the show "I surprised him. The Lakers let me tell him on the air ... that they were putting a statue of him up at the Staples Center. At first, he didn't believe me, he thought it was a prank. It turns out I have a credibility problem." The broadcast aired footage of workers installing the statue of O’Neal, with Kimmel saying it was “nine feet tall, it weighs 1,200 pounds, so it’s actual size and weight."
Kimmel said to O’Neal, “To get a statue of yourself outside the Staples Center is very, very rare and very special.” O’Neal: “I have to thank you because I came here around this time last year and you told and you know I don’t believe anything you say.” Kimmel: “I had to go back after the show and say, ‘No, I wasn’t kidding, you’re really getting a statue.’” O’Neal said for the unveiling ceremony tonight in L.A., he won’t “wing it” but prepare a speech for the occasion. O’Neal: “I’ll probably go tonight and just sit and re-watch the show and see how beautiful I am. Then I’ll probably just start writing it” (“Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC, 3/24).
