Shaquille O’Neal has signed a deal with Carnival Cruise Line to "open one of his Big Chicken eateries on the Carnival Radiance" in '20, according to Gene Sloan of USA TODAY. O'Neal already is the "face of Carnival in new advertising where he's billed as the cruise giant's chief fun officer." Carnival President Christine Duffy said of bringing O'Neal's restaurant on board, "He told me that he was doing this Big Chicken restaurant concept that he always had wanted to do, and that he had all these great fried chicken recipes. We said, 'we don't have a fried chicken place on our ships. We think this is something fun that our guests would really like.'" O'Neal's first Big Chicken restaurant "just opened in Las Vegas in late October and he plans more locations" in L.A. and Atlanta. Duffy said that Carnival brass and O'Neal "saw humor in the idea of a chicken-focused eatery on a cruise ship." Duffy said that they all had "lots of laughs" talking about canned seafood brand Chicken of the Sea. She said, "This is going to be our Chicken of the Sea, (but) no it is not tuna fish" (USATODAY.com, 11/12).
