Despite the bridge traffic-jam scandal surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the many scathing remarks about his character—ranging from implications that he knew about the set-up to accusations of bullying—he still has one huge supporter: Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal, who surprised a few people when he appeared in an ad endorsing the governor for his re-election, told TMZ in a phone interview that he believes Christie when he said he was unaware of the fact that members of his office had purposely set about blocking off traffic to Fort Lee, N.J., in retaliation against the Democratic mayor, allegedly for not endorsing the governor last year.
"I believe him," the former NBA star said. "When you have a lot of employees, it's kind of very difficult to police everybody. Some leaders let people police themselves, and some of them micromanage and try to police everybody. One thing I know about Christie, he's not a micromanager."
A New Jersey native himself, O’Neal brushed off suggestions that Christie's administration has a pattern of bullying and retaliating against those who cross the governor.
"The unfortunate thing about being a leader is that when you're on a team and a teammate makes a wrong decision, it’s all going to come back on you," O'Neal said, before assuring TMZ that those involved would be "dealt with."
"He’s a good man. He's a fair man," O'Neal added, siding against those who think that the scandal could have a negative impact on Christie's possible 2016 presidential bid. "It's all going to be fixed, and I know an incident like this will never happen again."
Read more at TMZ.