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Shaq Wants 1st Time Voters to Know They Aren't Alone With Shocking Reveal: 'I Have a Confession'

First-time voters, youโ€™re not alone. Suggested Reading A Peek Inside Travis Hunter’s New Jacksonville Mansion Cardi B, Offset and the Real Reasons Celebrities Recycle Each Others’ Partners Trigger Warning…All of the Shocking Testimony From Diddy’s Federal Trial Video will return here when scrolled back into view AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass…

First-time voters, youโ€™re not alone.

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AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass on Wealth, Politics & Power
AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass on Wealth, Politics & Power

While Republicans would love nothing more than for you to stay your ass home on Election Day, there are plenty of you who will be casting a ballot for the very first time. And to the surprise of manyโ€”myself includedโ€”among that number is NBA legend-turned-serial pitchman, Shaquille Oโ€™Neal.

On the latest episode of The Big Podcast With Shaq, the 48-year-old admitted that heโ€™s finally done something that heโ€™s never done before: vote.

โ€œLadies and gentlemen, I have a confession,โ€ he began. โ€œYou know I always like being honest on my podcast. Iโ€™ve never voted before, America. But now Iโ€™m doing all these voting campaigns, and you know one thing I never like to do is be a hypocrite. So the other day, I got my absentee ballot. [...] In other words America, I voted for the first time, and it feels good.

โ€œIโ€™m honest. Iโ€™ve never voted before in my life. This is my first time voting. I promise you.โ€

Taking his age into account, this news definitely comes as a shock. But as we learned recently during the NBAโ€™s restart, only 20 percent of eligible NBA players voted in the last electionโ€”even though weโ€™ve seen them wearing โ€œVOTEโ€ warmups on the sidelines during every game.

Having NBA players be so vocal about voting rights and political engagement while not following suit themselves hasnโ€™t exactly sat well with fans. It was also something that former Los Angeles Temecula Clippers coach Doc Rivers felt compelled to address in August.

โ€œIn the meeting, it came up,โ€ Rivers told reporters. โ€œโ€˜Letโ€™s walk the walk. We canโ€™t just do the talk.โ€™ And itโ€™s all the players. I think it was like 20 percent of the players voted in the last election or something like that and [...] weโ€™re going to get them registered here in the bubble. We are going to try to get every team registered, every player registered to vote.

โ€œItโ€™s so difficult for players because most of the time itโ€™s in the middle of the season, and players are from so many different states, that itโ€™s a lot of absentee voting. And weโ€™re going to get them all done. We want to get it up in the 80s, 90s, 100, if possible, percentile as far as players and coaches voting.โ€

This election is more important than ever so itโ€™s a relief to hear that both Shaq and NBA players are doing their part to ensure that their voice will be heard.

For more info on how you can register to vote and do the same, hit up vote.gov.

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