Shaquille O’Neal just voted for the first time ever.
The former NBA superstar revealed the shocking news during an episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq” on Wednesday (Oct. 7). “You know I always like being honest on my podcast. I’ve never voted before, America,” he said. “But, now I’m doing all these voting campaigns, and you know one thing I never like to do is be a hypocrite.”
“In other words, America, I voted for the first time, and it feels good,” he added. After being asked by his co-host, John Kincade, for clarification as to why he never voted, O’Neal said that he “didn’t understand the electoral college system.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t vote for Obama,” Kincade said.
O’Neal then spoke about the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote to become president, but still lost the election to Donald Trump — who had more electoral votes.
He said that he had “no excuse” for not voting earlier. Over the summer, he joined When We All Vote — Michelle Obama’s voting initiative — to encourage more people to get registered to vote. “Everyone needs to go out and vote, period,” the sports analyst previously said.
Snoop Dogg is another celebrity who will be exercising his right to vote for the first time ever. Back in June, the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” emcee told Big Boy that he was “brainwashed” into thinking he couldn’t vote because of his criminal record.
“I ain’t never voted a day in my life, but this year I think I’ma get out and vote ’cause I can’t stand to see this punk in office one more year,” the California native said, referring to President Trump. “For many years, they had me brainwashed thinking that you couldn’t vote ’cause you had a criminal record. I didn’t know that. My record’s been expunged, so now I can vote.”