Shaquille O'Neal Calls Taylor Swift a 'Cultural Icon' and Wishes to Shake Hands With Her

Among the increasing number of celebrities gradually turning into ardent Swifties is NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal. At Shaq's Fun House, his annual Super Bowl party at XS in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas on Friday night, the former Los Angeles Lakers star gushed over Taylor Swift. “If I see Taylor Swift and get to shake her hand, take a picture, I’ll be good,” O’Neal exclusively told Page Six. “She’s a fabulous person. I’m happy for her. I’m proud of her. She’s done a lot. She’s definitely a cultural icon,” O’Neal expressed while raving about the Lavender Haze hitmaker. “I just want to shake the hand of greatness.”

Despite meeting "a lot" of celebs daily, the famed sports analyst revealed that he looked up Swift, 34, on Google to check if he had ever met her before. O'Neal revealed earlier this week that he was aiming to get a seat near Swift on Super Bowl Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. “I hope I’m sitting in the suite next to Taylor Swift,” he previously told TMZ Sports. "Might have to go with the Chiefs, Travis Kelce my boy," he added.

Swift "definitely has her own accommodations," Kansas City Chiefs heiress Gracie Hunt, who is the daughter of the team's co-owner Clark Hunt revealed at Shaq's Fun House. “I hope to cross paths with her on Sunday, but it’s going to be total chaos for everybody,” the former Miss Kansas USA winner said. “We’re all super excited for Super Bowl Sunday.” 

It has been reported that Swift, her parents, Andrea and Scott Swift, brother Austin Swift and his girlfriend, and the tight end's family, Donna, and Ed Kelce, brother Jason Kelce, and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce, will all be cheering the Chiefs from a private suite that tight-end star paid for.  David Letterman is another celebrity who recently defended the Blank Space Songstress romance with Kelce. “This is such a lovely thing. Shut up!," Letterman criticized the couple's haters via a video on his Instagram account ahead of the Super Bowl LVIII. “I don’t think in the history of show business or the history of popular culture we’ve ever witnessed anything like this.”  

“The [Kelce] people say, ‘Oh, no, no, no, don’t bother us. We’re all caught up in football. We don’t want Taylor and football.’ And the Taylor Swift people, the Swifties, are saying, ‘Oh, we don’t want a footballer in here with [Kelce],'” Letterman added. “And I say to both camps, ‘This is such a lovely thing. Shut up!” Letterman concluded by saying, “It’s good for the footballers. It’s good for Taylor Swift and it’s something positive and happy for the world. And also politically, Taylor Swift is a huge force, and I think just wants to see people do the right thing. So God bless Taylor Swift and [Kelce].”