Digging a bit deeper into her recent public feud with Royce Reed, Shaunie O’Neal talks about falling out out and making up with Royce (on screen, at least), as well as the trip to Spain and the notion of cultural sensitivity as it applies to gifts of suckling pigs.
I’m curious if the Media Takeout story suggesting that Marlon hit on Royce, which preceded your current drama with Royce, had anything to do with your current drama with her?
That story was totally untrue.
Did the problems with Royce and her possibly shaky future with the show that you recently made public predate all the NBA All-Star party invite stuff?
Yeah. It started at the end of Season 2. It had nothing to do with me. We taped the reunion. We were cool. I left and thought everything still was cool and next thing I know, she’s running her mouth on Twitter and blogs. I don’t know.
The irony of this breaking beef is that on the show this week, you squashed other beef with Royce.
Again, I haven’t had any problem with Royce. She can be a s***-starter and play both sides, but I always stayed neutral with her. I was really honest with how I felt about her, but at the same time, I wasn’t trying to start an argument with her. I think as a grown woman, I should be able to say, “You’re getting on my nerves,” and she can voice how she feels and that’s that. That has always been my relationship with Royce and that’s how it would have been. I have no reason to be angry with her. So all of this was a total surprise to me. We’re not friends or BFFs, but we always remained cordial. At least, I did.
How about the pig scene? I asked Tami about this, but from your point of view, was there any concern about appearing culturally insensitive about the “gift” of a whole suckling pig?
Yeah. We didn’t want to hurt that guy’s feelings. It was a gift and really sweet. That’s why we were being sneaky about it. When you see Evelyn taking the pig away, she was going to try to set it to the side and then he walked in and thought she wanted it cut up. Later on, we were trying to separate it to make it look like we ate it even though we hadn’t. We put some on each person’s plate and tried to rip it up. We were trying to be sensitive to their feelings. I don’t eat pork ever, so I wouldn’t have been able to eat it anyway. But I definitely tried in helping get rid of some of it. We even had the idea of wrapping some in a napkin to get it out of the restaurant and then throw it away, so that we didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. But it was a good hour of feeling like we were all Lucy and Ethel. It was nuts.
All in all, it seems like the Spain trip worked out for everyone.
We ended up having a good time. I really do think we bonded with each other on a different level.
We know everything is leading up to a showdown between Tami and Evelyn. What do you chalk that up to? Was the bond formed in Spain tenuous or volatile?
Well, you’ll see that the fight actually comes as a result of that bond, actually. I think Tami being passionate about the bond is why we get such an intense explosion.
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