Shaunie O’Neal weighs in on Cincinnati Zoo scandal

Photo Credit: Instagram - @shaunieoneal5
Photo Credit: Instagram – @shaunieoneal5

All week long, news stories have been piling up about the Cincinnati Zoo scandal that’s rocked the country and left people divided over who’s to blame for the shocking zoo attack that’s left one little boy injured and a silverback gorilla shot dead over the incident. Now, famous celebrity mom Shaunie O’Neal is weighing in on the matter and explaining what she thinks was wrong about the incident.


As previously reported, the attack happened this past Saturday when a three-year-old boy slipped past a fence and fell over the perimeter of the Gorilla World Exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. After the boy fell in, Harambe, a 17-year-old Silverback Western Lowland Gorilla, grabbed the boy and dragged him around the exhibit, forcing zoo officials to shoot and kill him in order to save the boy’s life.


Although the boy didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, he did suffer a concussion and a few scrapes. And now reports are claiming that boy’s parents, Michelle Gregg and Deonne Dickerson, will be under investigation over the incident, as well.

Since the attack, people across the nation have been split over whether the zoo or the boy’s parents are to blame for the fiasco, as well as whether it was right for zoo officials to shoot Harambe.


Now, according to media reports, O’Neal, who is a mother of five, recently spoke about the incident in a new interview.

“Something was wrong with how the boy was just able to get in there like that,” O’Neal said, before criticizing the boy’s mother, who was with him at the zoo. “So clearly you have your child latched on at this point at three.”

“I mean I hate to pass judgment because we haven’t seen the closure, but hell I hold onto my kids and they’re clearly all bigger than me,” O’Neal explained.

O’Neal goes on to explain that all involved parties must share the blame for the tragic attack.

“It’s a lot wrong ’cause something’s wrong with the zoo…I hate to pass judgment because things happen as a parent,” O’Neal said.

The “Basketball Wives” star then shared whether she would have jumped into the exhibit to save her child had she been in the situation.

“I myself might have just jumped into the gorilla pit. You can’t rattle me about much, but my kids is another story. Me and the gorilla going head to head,” O’Neal explained.

Who do you think is to blame for the incident? Let us know in the comments.

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