Shaquille O’Neal runs off live TV show for emergency bathroom break

When nature calls, Shaq answers — even when he’s live on the air.

In a viral moment from Monday’s edition of Inside the NBA, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal fell victim to a bathroom emergency, prompting him to rush offstage in the middle of a live segment. His cohosts, Ernie Johnson, Kenny “The Jet” Smith, and Charles Barkley, were in the middle of analyzing the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Clippers playoffs matchup when they noticed O’Neal rise from his seat.

“You all right, big fella?” Smith asked.

As the four-time NBA champ made his way away from the desk, he replied, “Go ahead, keep talking, gents.”

“We’re on TV,” Smith reminded him.

Jogging off camera, a straining O’Neal said, “I know what we’re doing, go ahead.”

Johnson, Smith, and Barkley were stunned by their cohost’s departure — but that didn’t stop them from making light of his abrupt exit.

“It’s that olive oil you’ve been drinking,” Smith called back, before explaining that O’Neal has been trying to flush his system with olive oil after reading that it helps to clean the gut.

“Hey, take some matches with you,” Barkley quipped.

Though they all cracked up, Smith still voiced some sympathy for O’Neal. “Listen, he couldn’t hold it,” he said. “After 40, you can’t hold it no more.”

As they continued cracking jokes, Johnson wondered whether he was being pranked: “That wasn’t something planned, was it?” He added, “I did not like his gait as he left. That was not a typical walk right there.”

When Barkley said the olive oil plan is meant to go on for two weeks, Johnson cracked, “He’s gonna miss a lot of air time, then.”

The crew even went as far as to give O’Neal the slow-motion playback treatment, running back his bathroom jog for all to see. When O’Neal finally returned, he scolded his cohosts for being so distracted by his exit.

But the torment didn’t stop there. On Tuesday, the Inside the NBA crew surprised Shaq with a special gift right next to his usual spot at the desk: a porta-potty.

O’Neal took the prank in stride, and within minutes of the show starting, he walked over and went inside.

“Oh so you actually gonna use it now?” Smith asked, to which Johnson commented, “Oh, I hope not.”

Once inside the porta-potty, O’Neal played it up for the crowd, ripping up toilet paper and pretending to have a tough time in the bathroom.

When he eventually exited, the hosts finally got the show back on track. For the most part.

Just before they got back into their game analysis, Barkley said, “I’m just flabbergasted that we just have a porta-potty just sitting around.”