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Former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal never played in the Super Bowl himself, but he takes both the big game — and the Super Bowl halftime show — seriously. The 2022 halftime show, however, is proving to be a difficult thing for O’Neal to process.

Shaquille O'Neal wearing a red suit
Shaquille O’Neal | Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year 2019

The Super Bowl LVI halftime show will feature Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar

Super Bowl LVI is scheduled to take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The halftime show will feature an all-star lineup of music industry veterans: Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar. The show will take place close to Dre and Lamar’s hometown of Compton.

It won’t be the first time Blige performs at the Super Bowl halftime show. In 2001, she briefly appeared alongside stars including Britney Spears, *NSYNC, and Nelly during Aerosmith’s performance of “Walk This Way.”

Shaquille O'Neal smiling
Shaquille O’Neal | Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Pepsi Stronger Together

Shaquille O’Neal is ‘upset’ about the halftime show

O’Neal spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in January 2022 about the Super Bowl and much more. When it came to the halftime show, he admitted that he felt a certain way about it.

“I’m upset. I’m upset that there’s all that greatness packed into 12 minutes. Because I, at least, want to hear three songs from Dre, and three from Snoop, and three from Mary and three from Kendrick. That’s like an hour performance, but I guess they’re going to have to figure out how to do all that in 12 minutes,” he said honestly.

“But if Dr. Dre’s involved, all that funk and all, in 12 minutes, it’s probably going to be the best Super Bowl halftime show ever.”

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Shaquille O’Neal is hosting a Super Bowl halftime show party

To celebrate the 2022 Super Bowl, O’Neal is hosting a party the weekend of the big game called Shaq’s Fun House. Among other hit artists including Lil Wayne and Diplo, O’Neal himself will be performing as well.

“The only thing that gets my adrenaline now is my deejaying,” he told USA Today. When behind the DJ table, he performs as DJ Diesel. It’s nowhere near his first time as a musician: in the 1990s, he was a popular rapper as well as a star basketball player.

“I never know what I’m going to do until I read the crowd,” he said. “I’m actually two types of DJs. I could deejay Top 40 all day, but when I see those kids, they want that hard dubstep and they start mosh pitting. That’s what I really like to do. But I’m sure this will be a corporate event, so I’ll probably just have to go Top 40, all feel-good music.”

“If you want to go to a party where you just sit around and you look at people and you listen to some music, you go do that. If you want to have a party where you’re going to dance and have fun, get some drinks and get lots of food and see great artists, you know where to go to, and that’s Shaq’s Fun House,” he said honestly. “We will have a helluva time. Trust me.”

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