Did Shaquille O’Neal ever feature in an FTX commercial?
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Shaquille O’Neal (Credits: NBA)
According to a story by CNBC’s Make It, NBA star Shaquille O’Neal claimed he doesn’t believe in cryptocurrencies and was only paid to support the now-imploded exchange FTX. He aired out what he truly had to do with the crypto currency giant.
“A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial,” O’Neal said. O’Neal expressed excitement about working with the exchange to “make crypto accessible to everyone” in the advertisement.
“I’m all in. Are you?” O’Neal says in the ad. O’Neal told CNBC that one of the factors influencing his decision to take part in the FTX advertisement was his connection with fellow NBA legend Stephen Curry.
FTX, its well-known endorsers, and its inventor, Sam Bankman-Fried brought a class-action complaint on November 15. O’Neal is one of numerous famous people that is there in the lawsuit. The case was lodged by investor Edwin Garrison. According to court records the case claims that FTX only took in famous people like O’Neal, Curry, and fashion model Gisele Bündchen to lure investors into a Ponzi scheme.
The bankruptcy filing of FTX on November 11 and the revelations made by its new CEO John Ray about the company’s egregious mismanagement practices shocked the cryptocurrency community. The SEC has charged Bankman-Fried with fraud for allegedly diverting billions of dollars.
Before making an appearance in the FTX ad in June, O’Neal had previously made it known that he was skeptical of cryptocurrencies. In September 2021, he admitted to not understanding cryptocurrency to CNBC. “So I will probably stay away from it until I get a full understanding of what it is,” he said.
Sports and cryptocurrency: Ethical dilemmas
Sports fans who look up to their favourite athletes as role models may hesitate to heed their financial guidance. Cryptocurrencies are digital forms of payment that record transactions using the blockchain as its database.
No institution or government supports cryptocurrency, and it continues to be a perplexing idea. At first, it was primarily the domain of tech-savvy programmers. Subsequently they started distrusting centralized banking institutions and governments, and investors with capital to risk.
However, the fact that wealthy investors are increasingly taking on this risk. And because of this the wealth gap between celebrities and their followers raises an ethical conundrum: Should athletes, teams, or leagues promote goods that might cause their supporters financial harm? Or should followers be accountable for their own hazardous actions, independent of the person who is encouraging them?
Steph Curry and Tom Brady were given undesirable business associates in retrospect; said by Mark Pritchard, a professor at Central Washington, in an email.
Also Read: Who is Robert Sarver? What fraud has made him NBA’s #1 VILLAIN?
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