AceShowbiz - Shaquille O'Neal has offered his two cents regarding vaccine mandates. Although he previously dissed Kyrie Irving for refusing to get vaccinated, the three-time NBA Finals MVP recently said that people "shouldn't be forced" to get their shots.

"Look, I encourage everybody to be safe and take care of your family, I do," the athlete said when speaking to Entertainment Tonight's Nischelle Turner on his "The Big Podcast with Shaq". He added, "But there's still some people that don't wanna take it. And you shouldn't have to be forced to take something you don't want."

When Nischelle divulged that CBS has a vaccine mandate among workers, Shaq said, "That's forced." He further emphasized, "It is forced. Because if the man don't take it, the man gonna get fired."

Shaq's comments came after he slammed Kyrie Irving over his anti-vaccination stance last year. When appearing on CBS Sports Radio's "Tiki and Tierney", the retired professional basketball player suggested the Brooklyn Nets cut ties with the 29-year-old star.

"We can win with a two-punch and a great shooter and some rebounders like we got," Shaq said at that time. "Get his a** up out of here. Whoever owns the Nets, get his a** up out of here."

"Of course, if I played with him, I'd be in charge all the way, all day," so the 49-year-old Newark native went on noting. "Now every day I'm gonna have to answer questions about him and what he's doing … get his a** up outta here."

Shaquille further shared his thoughts on the matter in a September episode of "The Big Podcast". While he said that he is not going to "knock" Kyrie's right to have an opinion, he insisted that the Australian athlete has to think about the bigger picture.

"In this game of ours, sometimes you have to think about others instead of yourself. Now, Kyrie has his own views and his opinions. I'm not going to knock that," he argued. "He does have an obligation because he took that $200 million. Once you sign up for this life there is no privacy. And you have to accept it."