Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘Gorilla Dab’ Dance Is A Runaway Hit: Social Media Reactions
On last night’s edition of Inside the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal unveiled the Gorilla Dab, a new dance he has been working on, and it is already beginning to take off across social media.
Shaq created his own dance and excitedly showed it off on @NBAonTNT https://t.co/ly0dokCqaXhttps://t.co/Q2icXFzUoq
— For The Win (@ForTheWin) April 27, 2016
O’Neal’s Gorilla Dab involves the dancer pounding their chest, swiveling their head, stepping up and down, and shaking their arms, giving off the appearance of an excited gorilla.
Shaquille even composed a song to Gorilla Dab to and showed a video of himself at his house doing his dance in time to his song, although the version O’Neal did on the show’s set lacked music and was a bit more sedate.
Need help with my new dance "GORILLA DAB" hottest routine gets a thousand dollars. https://t.co/XYqGhfWhKR pic.twitter.com/n7c0hgivtZ
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 20, 2016
It was no surprise that, as SB Nation notes, O’Neal was great at the dance.
The main reason being that Shaquille O’Neal is a legendary ex-NBA star who used to dance on the court during his career. Excelling at basketball takes a lot of limberness, agility, and coordination, all of which are helpful in effectively pulling off high-energy dance steps. Even besides O’Neal, many basketball players and teams have been known to devise their own dances in the past, and Shaquille is one of the game’s all-time greats, so why not?
Shaquille O'Neal, Lebron James y Dwight Howard bailando en el All-Star https://t.co/7rOny7EgvK
— DEP TDB (@TitanesdBasket) September 1, 2015
The other reason O’Neal looked right at home doing the dance is because he himself is a 7’1? and incredibly muscular man. Shaquille’s intimidating appearance lends itself well to the Gorilla Dab, which seems to be designed to bring out the dancer’s “primal” side.
Unfortunately, O’Neal’s co-hosts were not quite as adept as he was when it came to Gorilla Dabbing. Although none of them cared to embarrass themselves by attempting it right after Shaquille, Charles Barkley decided to give it a go when he got up at the end of the show. The results, Twitter users agree, were not pretty.
The ribbing Barkley received for his rendition of O’Neal’s Gorilla Dab was all in good fun, though; most people thought it was hilarious.
Seeing Charles Barkley hit the Gorilla Dab made my damn night ??????
— V ?? (@V_disrespectful) April 27, 2016
Despite Barkley’s alleged butchering of the dance, however, Shaquille is trying his best to make the dance into a viral craze on the level of “The Soulja Boy.” O’Neal even offered $1,000 to whoever posts the “hottest routine.”
So far, most of the responses to O’Neal’s thousand dollar offer are just jokes, with no one even attempting to top Shaquille’s performance.
@SHAQ Well you just won how can we complete lol
— Jay Moss (@9millmoss) April 22, 2016
.@SHAQ if you gonna be using my moves after I win I'm gonna need a little more than a stack. #GorrillaDab
— Mrs.Kornegay (@MrsShanonK) April 21, 2016
Some of the comments, however, are negative, saying that O’Neal’s Gorilla Dab is ugly and racist, and that the commenters are disappointed in Shaquille.
@SHAQ that's ridiculous ! You're better than that Shaq !
— Heath W. Shearon (@HeathWShearon) April 21, 2016
@SHAQ wow u set black people back
— Brad Johnston (@FriendlyFan666) April 20, 2016
@SHAQ U falling off so wack Shaq u better then that.
— Free Jack (@FreeJack718) April 20, 2016
Poor spelling aside, what do you think about these comments? Is Shaquille O’Neal’s soon-to-be-viral dance indeed wack? Or will you be pulling it out at the next party you attend?
[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/AP Images]