Former NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal is jokingly questioning if Stevie Wonder is actually blind following an interesting encounter in an elevator. During an episode of “Inside the NBA” Shaq retold the “true story” to co-hosts Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith.
Shaq explained that he and Stevie live in the same building. He continued, “So, we live in a building on Wilshire. So you park your car and the valet’s down there. So I’m already in the building, I’m coming through the lobby. Door opens, it’s Stevie Wonder. He comes in, says, ‘What’s up, Shaq?’ Presses the button.”
O’Neal then said, “Presses the button, gets off on his floor, goes to his room. I went and called every person I knew and told them this story. And they believed me.”
Apparently, iconic singer Lionel Richie is skeptical as well. According to Us Weekly, the “American Idol” judge said during appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” “I’m going to tell you something. I’ve been spending my whole life with him thinking he can see. I know he can see. Listen [to] the story I tell that’s the funniest. I went to his house. He says, ‘Wanna hear a new song? I’ve got it in the car. C’mon, go with me.’”
Richie said Stevie gave him instructions and said, “You sit on the passenger side, I’ll sit on the driver’s side. He cranks the car up, he puts the tape in, right? And then he does this [turns around] and starts driving back down the driveway.”
Stevie told The Guardian back in 2012 that he didn’t consider his blindness a disadvantage. “Do you know, it’s funny but I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. I am what I am. I love me! And I don’t mean that egotistically — I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it,” he said.
According to Stevie Wonder’s official biography, the famed singer has been blind since birth after being born six weeks prematurely.
Check out Shaq tell his “Inside The NBA” co-hosts the story below.