Shaquille O’Neal Reflects on a Crime Documentary That Deeply Moved Him
NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal is among the many at-home detectives captivated by true crime stories.
“I’ve always had an interest in it,” O’Neal, 54, told Us exclusively while promoting his new true crime series, Game Day Murders, set to premiere on Monday, July 27, on ID.
O’Neal claims to have “seen them all” when it comes to the most popular true crime series and documentaries, including Netflix’s American Murder: The Family Next Door. This 2020 documentary narrates the tragic case of Chris Watts, who confessed to the 2018 murders of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste. (At the time, Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with their third child, a boy named Niko.)
Watts, condemned to five life sentences without the chance for parole, concealed his daughters’ bodies within oil tanks at a storage facility in Colorado.
“I watched and thought, ‘Wow, someone took his kids,’” O’Neal remarked about the documentary, where Watts initially denies his participation in the crimes on bodycam footage. “But then, you notice he doesn’t seem upset. He’s out socializing.”
O’Neal added, “Ultimately, he buried his family in that oil. I felt like jumping through the screen.”
Additionally, he mentioned that tracking the twists and turns of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial was his “favorite for a while.” Murdaugh, 58, is presently serving a 40-year sentence for financial offenses after his murder convictions and life sentence were overturned in May by the South Carolina Supreme Court, following the June 2021 deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul. Murdaugh’s double-murder retrial is scheduled to commence on April 5, 2027.
O’Neal combined his love for sports and true crime as an executive producer of Game Day Murders, a six-part series that delves into the cross-section of sports and true crime through notorious incidents in sports history, such as the murder of NFL player Sean Taylor and the death of MLB player Dernell Stenson.
“I felt it was a natural fit for me,” O’Neal reflected on the project. “Having been around sports my whole life, I was surprised to discover that many significant stories unfold not on the field or court, but off them. Often, they end in tragedy. I aim to honor the victims and not sensationalize their stories.”
O’Neal expressed his gratitude to Lindsay Czarniak, the host of Game Day Murders, for her exceptional leadership.
“She does a fantastic job,” O’Neal noted. “I reached out to her first, and she was excited about the idea. She deserves most of the credit. I’m just a producer; she was the one asking the crucial questions and exploring these narratives.”
Game Day Murders debuts on Monday, July 27, at 9 p.m. ET on ID, with episodes available for streaming on HBO Max.
