‘Basketball Wives’ Star Shaunie O’Neal Called Out After Social Media Post About Supporting Black Women
Basketball Wives has been heavily criticized for its intense arguments and moments of physical violence between Black women. More recently, the women on the show have been accused of colorism after OG Chijindu made a case that certain cast members on the show are more accepting of bad behavior from her lighter-skinned co-stars. She’s currently in a legal battle with Evelyn Lozada over the claims.
Creator of the show, Shaunie O’Neal, is looking to change the narrative with a recent post on social media about her supporting Black women. But fans aren’t buying it and are calling O’Neal out for her own shady behavior on the show.
Shaunie O’Neal posts photo on Instagram with a caption about supporting Black women
An Instagram challenge encouraging influential Black women to show support of one another publicly has been floating around amid the current unrest over racism and police brutality. The challenge calls for women to post a single photo of themselves with the same caption and tag others to join in.
O’Neal opted to participate and posted an up-close selfie with the pre-written caption, writing in part, “We are BLACK WOMEN!….. We too have a VOICE….. We don’t tear down other BLACK WOMEN!….. We have felt the pain of NOT BEING HEARD and we have decided to be deliberate about building others!”
O’Neal tagged 16 of her close friends to follow suit. Some notable followers who liked her post include Tamar Braxton and Yolanda Adams.
Shaunie O’Neal has been in a ton of drama on ‘Basketball Wives’
O’Neal has been accused of maneuvering her way through different friend groups on the series while maintaining a tight-knit bond with Lozada, who’s been labeled as the bully of the show. Her perceived allegiance to Lozada is what Tami Roman says contributed to the end of her friendship with O’Neal.
When newbie OG was accused of being aggressive, she pointed out that she’d never gotten physical with anyone as O’Neal’s BFF Lozada. But, OG was forced to sit isolated at the reunion out of the cast fear that she’d harm someone.
O’Neal stood by her decision and tried to make a case for Lozada’s past behavior. OG later accused O’Neal and her co-stars of colorism and felt that she was treated differently because of her darker skin, which O’Neal denied but apologized for.
Former cast members have also alleged that O’Neal uses her executive producer title as a form of power. Some have accused her of being so instrumental that others are afraid of having any conflict with her out of fear of being fired from the show. She famously argued with Brandi Maxiell who called O’Neal a b**ch during a discussion about Maxiell feeling that O’Neal was passive-aggressive.
O’Neal admitted during the reunion that she did not want Maxiell to return to the series. By the season’s end, Maxiell was given her walking papers.
Fans call Shaunie O’Neal out for being hypocritical with Instagram post
Basketball Wives viewers were not in approval of O’Neal’s message. With her perceived shady and “puppet master” behavior on the show, fans felt her antics did not align with her supporting Black women and they called her out about it online.
“Lolz. Tearing down Black women is what’s printed on Shaunie O’Neal’s W-2,” one wrote on Twitter.
“Should SHE really be the one joining in on the spreading of this caption,” one asked. Another user responded to the thread, writing, “Absolutely not. Shaunie O’Neal Tammi Roman and Evelyn are all the Staples that catapulted on-screen violence against other black women, bullying, and tearing women down. She can have all the seats on that.”
Things apparently became so overwhelming for the reality star that she disabled comments on the post. Fans were quick to notice and call her out for that as well.
“Shaunie O’Neal turned off the comments on her black woman posts bc even she knows she lied about not tearing other black women down,” one wrote.
“Shaunie O’Neal tried to do the “we are black women we do not tear other black women down” post and mfs were like AHT AHT – she turned the comments off lmao,” wrote another.
O’Neal hasn’t responded to the social media backlash but her Instagram post remains on her page with the ability for followers to comment disabled.
