Shaq Buying Dinner For a Whole Restaurant Proves His Generosity Is Even Bigger Than His Stature

Photo: Manny Hernandez (Getty Images)

The only thing bigger than Shaquille O’Neal’s body is his heart. The 7’1″ former NBA player and current analyst and media personality is well-known for his kindness and humor. A simple Google search will turn up videos of the NBA legend randomly playing basketball with kids in a street, handing over his credit card so a random stranger can buy his fiancé an engagement ring, and countless other generous events and humorous interactions. All in all, it’s pretty clear that Shaq is a good guy. This is only proven even more by the recent viral moment he had at a restaurant.

Recently, Shaq was on a date at a restaurant called the Jue Lan Club in New York City. While there, he decided (for no reason other than because he’s a nice guy) to pay for everyone’s drinks and meals. According to Page Six, the total bill was over $25,000. On top of that, he also left a ridiculous tip for the restaurant staff. They even referred to it as “the biggest tip they’ve ever received.”

And while this is all well and good, you might think someone who does something like this might do it to be self-serving, perhaps to get the people at the restaurant or the public to think he’s a winner. Well, it’s clear it wasn’t just for show as Shaq asked the staff not to tell anyone at the 40 other tables that he paid for their dinner.

The funniest part of the story isn’t the fact that he paid for everyone’s meals. But he also ordered for them as well. His date, who did the ordering, picked Beijing chicken, shrimp tempura, and the restaurant’s signature chicken satay. In our opinion, she did a pretty good job. Everyone was probably happy with those picks. That is, unless there were any vegans or vegetarians in attendance.