Shaquille O'Neal Denies He's Dating Woman in Viral Photo — and Jokingly Shares Similar Pictures with Other Women

The NBA Hall of Famer poked fun at a viral photo on social media in which fans misidentified him

Shaquille O'Neal is shutting down rumors after social media users accused him of being in a PDA-packed viral photo.

O'Neal, 52, was thought to be in a photo shared by a woman named Maria Ozuna Teachey on Instagram and obtained by TMZ. The image showed Teachey and the mystery man — who shares a similar build to the former basketball star — embracing in a NSFW position while standing in front of a mirror.

Teachey's social media followers believed it was O'Neal in the image, and speculation about the retired player's relationship status began circulating online.

Once O'Neal caught wind of the rumor, he went to Instagram to set the record straight and denied being the man depicted. "Nope not the kid," he commented on the post shared by Worldstar.

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Then, the 7-foot-1 basketball commentator shared two posts to his Instagram grid poking fun at the rumor.

O'Neal put together a series of photos of himself and other women in a similar pose to the viral photo and wrote, "Is this my girlfriend too, trust me I’ll let yall know who my woman is," in the caption. "And by the way my woman name is Shaqirah," he joked.

In another video, O'Neal showed off his dance moves in a funny bit with media personality Alexa Leighton. "My real girlfriend knows I’m a big black exotic dancer #itwasntme," O'Neal wrote.

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In recent years, O'Neal has remained fairly private about his romantic life. In May, the Inside the NBA star's ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson, released her memoir Undefeated, in which she questioned whether she ever really loved her ex-husband.

After the book's release, O'Neal shared a somber message on Instagram, writing, "I understand... I wouldn’t have been in love with me either. Wishing you all the best. All love, Shaq," he wrote on Instagram with the caption, "Trust me I get it."

Related: Shaquille O'Neal Says Becoming a DJ Saved Him from Feeling Lost After NBA Retirement (Exclusive)

Henderson told PEOPLE shortly after that the quote from her book was taken out of context regarding O'Neal.

"My book is my truth, and when I was talking to my friend yesterday, I was like, 'Developing an opinion and a comment from content with no context will show you a lot of people's intelligence and unintelligence, right?' There was no context to just that one quote that I said, and I think that sadly, people are taking my words out of context."

"I'm not a word girl. I'm a character girl, and since I've left the marriage of Shaquille, my character has spoken for itself," she added.

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