Featured Image Credit: Instagram/_1.Filly
Topics: Shaquille ONeal, NBA, Basketball
Rory O'Callaghan
An influencer has responded to Shaquille O'Neal after he denied being the unidentified man in a racy image which has gone viral on social media.
Influencer Maria Ozuna Teachey - who boasts more than 210,000 followers on Instagram - shared a picture of herself and a tall man with a similar build to O'Neal, cuddling her from behind with his hands on her chest.
The image quickly went viral on social media, with fans left to speculate over the man's identity – with his shoulders and head left out of shot in the picture.
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Teachey fuelled speculation by captioning it: "Unapologetically us. Can y'all guess who feet? #loveyou."
Fans were quick to suggest the unidentified man was NBA Hall of Famer O'Neal.
But the 52-year-old has denied he is the man in the picture.
After social media account WorldStar reposted the image on its Instagram page, captioning it: "Folks on social media seem to think #Shaq has a new girlfriend", Shaq replied: "Nope not the kid."
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Teachey replied by seemingly accusing Shaq of lying about his involvement, without specifically naming the former Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat star.
"Come on Kid. A time was had. Why he lie to yall man. Yall have a great night," she commented, as reported by the Daily Mail.
She also used the hashtags: "#playwithsomebodyelse #Filly #goatworthy #dontaskagain. I'm done."
Viral X account Litleakers has since shared a series of old clips which it claims were posted on social media by Teachey.
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In the first clip, a piece of paper can be seen with the word 'Diesel' - O'Neal's DJ name - in capital letters at the top.
The note, supposedly from a hotel in New Jersey, also read: "Shaquille, Welcome back to Harrah's Atlantic City & The Pool. Looking forward to an awesome show."
According to ticket website Tixr, O'Neal played a show at the same hotel on August 17.
Further footage shows a large man sleeping on a couch, as well footage from backstage at a DJ set.
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It's not clear when the clips were filmed or if Teachey and O'Neal are the individuals who feature.
O'Neal has since hit back again at the claims he is the man in the viral image by sharing a video on his own Instagram account with five different women, captioning the post: "Is this my girlfriend too, trust me I'll let y'all know who my woman is, and by the way my woman name is Shaqirah."
He later added another post denying it was him, commenting: "I will let y'all know when I'm in love."
Teachey later played down the speculation surrounding the image in another video to her followers on Instagram.
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"It's a new day. Let’s get to work. Don't believe everything you see. Back to work," she said.
LADbible Group has contacted Shaquille O'Neal's representatives for comment.