Shaq said he was joking about the Earth being flat all along

Does Shaquille O’Neal believe the Earth is flat? Well no. I mean yes. I mean ... maybe. Over the weekend, he unequivocally stated that he is on Kyrie Irving’s side in believing the earth is not round.

“It’s true. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. Yeah, it is. Yes, it is. Listen, there are three ways to manipulate the mind — what you read, what you see and what you hear. In school, first thing they teach us is, ‘Oh, Columbus discovered America,’ but when he got there, there were some fair skinned people with the long hair smoking on the peace pipes. So what does that tell you? Columbus didn’t discover America. So, listen, I drive from coast to coast, and this shit is flat to me. I’m just saying, I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me. I do not go up and down at a 360-degree angle, and all that stuff about gravity. Have you looked outside Atlanta lately and seen all these buildings? You mean to tell me that China is under us? China is under us? It’s not. The world is flat.”

Now he’s going back on this and saying it was a joke all along. Shaq went on The Art of Charm podcast to explain more.

“No, I don’t think that,” O’Neal told Harbinger of a flat Earth. “It was a joke, OK? So know that when Shaquille O’Neal says something, 80 percent of the time I’m being humorous, and it is a joke. And 20 percent of the time, I’m being serious, but when I’m being serious, you’ll know. You want to see me, seriously? See me and Charles Barkley going back and forth on TNT. That’s when I’m mad and when I’m serious. Other than that, you’re not going to get that out of me, so I was just joking people.”

Seems simple enough. Let’s see how Shaq closed this whole thing down.

“The Earth is not round, it’s flat. I mean, the Earth is not flat, it’s round.”

Oh God ...

Update: On Thursday night Shaq went on Jimmy Kimmel to explain more.