Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal recalled the story of how he stumbled across the wallet of Manchester United legend David Beckham, and jokingly tried to blackmail him.
O'Neal, who retired from professional basketball in 2011, recalled the incident on the Late Late Show with James Corden back in 2018.
Rather fittingly, Spice Girls star Victoria Beckham joined Shaq on the show, as the former Lakers man explained how he once found her husband's wallet.
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“I was walking one day in Beverly Hills and I found a wallet. Usually, when I find wallets, I just take out all the money out and just throw them,” he joked to James Corden.
“But this was a nice wallet, so I look. And it said David Beckham, I was like, ‘Can’t be!’ And I looked at the ID and it was David Beckham.”
Due to the pair being friends, Shaq saw this as the perfect opportunity to prank Beckham through the art of blackmail.
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“So, I didn’t want to just give it to the front desk, so I tracked him down. I was like, David. Well, no, first I played a joke on him,” O’Neal continued.
However, Shaq's genius plan ended up falling flat due to the former United star knowing it was him.
He added: “I have your wallet. I have your wallet. It’s going to cost you a million dollars getting it back.’ But he knew it was me.
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“[Beckham said] ‘Shaq, stop playing.’ I was like, ‘Dave, I found your wallet,’ and he came and picked it up.”
Victoria was then quizzed on the incident and revealed this kind of thing happens rather often, and either gifted her husband a chain to stop him from repeatedly losing his wallet.
“Do you know I do? And David loses his wallet all the time,” she said.
“I actually bought him a wallet on a chain to try and prevent this from happening.”
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When asked if the chain trick worked out for Beckham, Victoria hilariously responded: “Well, I mean, he lost the wallet with the chain on it.”
Topics: Shaquille ONeal, David Beckham, Manchester United, NBA
Tom Jenkins