Fact Check: Shaquille O'Neal Threw George Clooney Out of His Restaurant for Being 'Woke'?

Claim:

Shaquille O'Neal threw George Clooney out of his restaurant because Clooney is "woke."

Rating:

False ( About this rating? )

In July 2024, the Facebook page "Gordon Ramsay Shows" posted a rumor that former basketball star Shaquille O'Neal threw actor George Clooney out of one of his restaurants. The post, which had thousands of reactions and shares, claimed that O'Neal told Clooney to "keep your wokeness out":

Some readers seemed to interpret the claim as a factual recounting of real-life events. Commenters on the post reacted supportively. "Thank you big guy!!!! Way to keep it real!!!!" one said. "Great job and great food," another wrote.

The pinned comment under the post linked to an article on the site tintinhthanh.online:

Shaq Throws George Clooney Out Of His Restaurant, Bans Him For Life,"Keep Your Wokeness Out"

In a stunning turn of events, NBA legend and business mogul Shaquille O'Neal has reportedly expelled Hollywood superstar George Clooney from one of his restaurants, issuing a lifetime ban. The incident, which has since gone viral, ended with Shaq allegedly telling Clooney, "Keep your wokeness out."

However, the specific rumor about this confrontation between O'Neal and Clooney was a fictional story. Had it been real, the story would've been reported on by reputable outlets that cover entertainment news.

Although the website tintinhthanh.online has a disclaimer page saying it takes no responsibility for errors in its content, neither it nor the Facebook page claim that their output is satirical in nature. For this reason, we have rated this claim "False."

Further, we ran the text of the article through online tools that help detect content produced by artificial intelligence, including ZeroGPT , QuillBot and CopyLeaks , all of which found that the text of the article had been AI-generated. More and more articles containing false rumors on such sites are created the same way.

Snopes has addressed similar claims about O'Neal throwing out other personalities from his restaurant, including actor Robert De Niro and television presenter Joy Behar .

Sources:

Clooney, George. 'Opinion | George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.' The New York Times , 10 July 2024. NYTimes.com , https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/opinion/joe-biden-democratic-nominee.html. Hardinges, Nick. 'Shaq Threw De Niro Out of His Restaurant for Being "Creepy Woke"?' Snopes , 18 June 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/shaq-de-niro-restaurant/. Ibrahim, Nur. 'Kurt Russell Said George Clooney "Hasn't Worked In Years" Because "He Never Shuts Up"?' Snopes , 21 June 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/kurt-russell-george-clooney-arrogant/. Liles, Jordan. 'Shaq Threw Joy Behar Out of His Restaurant and Banned Her for Life?' Snopes , 10 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/shaq-joy-behar-restaurant/. McCalmont, Lucy. ' Shaq Backs Christie: "I Believe Him"'. Politico , 10 Jan. 2014, https://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/shaq-backs-chris-christie-i-believe-him-102004. Medina, Mark. 'Shaquille O'Neal Explains Why He Had Resisted Voting before This Year's Election'. USA TODAY , https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2020/10/27/shaquille-oneal-why-he-didnt-vote-before-2020-election/6037008002/. Accessed 26 July 2024.