Dear Shaquille,
While you were on stage asking Kobe how your a$$ tastes, Joseph Toney, was getting ready to punch in to his job at the Goodwill Home and Mission. Yes, your REAL father picks up baked good from businesses and delivers them to shelters, churches, and mission homes. The man works for the people and you won’t even see go see him. Apparently you hold on to ridiculous grudges and fail to take responsibility for actions blaming Kobe for your divorce. Your father has somethings he wants you to hear.

“I don’t know what he heard, but it’s not all true,” Toney said. “He’s being brainwashed. Because he has money, more people listen to him. I don’t necessarily blame him for thinking what he does. If I saw a story of a poor man reaching out to his millionaire estranged son, I’d think the same. It’s not hard to believe that. But it’s not true.

“He’s got a good public relations team. I don’t want any of his money. It’s the real deal so help me God. I just want him to know me and his brothers. I have two sons, Joseph Mitchell Owens and Emmanuel Toney, and Shaq has never met them. If I was the worst father in the world, that shouldn’t stop him from seeing his blood relatives. But I sent letters to him, and got back bogus letters.”

I remember when I met your dad, he was wearing a red suit, the tallest man in the room oozing with charisma and charm. His smile was huge and you could tell he was happy with life. I didn’t speak to him other than hello, shaking his hand with a firm grip and kept it moving. While most thing he ran out on Shaq, thats not all true, Shaq’s mother Lucille met PHIL only after Joe was locked up for fraudulent checks, embezzlement, and drug possession.

“Lucille and I were doing the same thing. I did coke with her. Whatever money we made off the checks, it was our money. But when the authorities came, I didn’t want our six-month old baby to be put in a foster home, so I took all the hits. The press plays games. I didn’t run away or desert her. I had to serve my time.”

When he was released from prison, he didn’t understand the world around him, by this time he has no clue where Lucille and Shaq were, “If I was in his life when I was going through my troubles, he probably would have turned out poorly, and I wouldn’t have wanted that.” Toney said “I remember sitting with friends and watching the McDonalds High School All-Star game, and hearing my son’s name the name I gave him, even down to the spelling. I went ‘Oh my gosh” I’ve been around the family, they are the most down to earth group of people I’ve ever met in my life. I am honored to have a connection to them, and even if your father was the worst person in the world… He’s still your Dad, and the family you’ve cut off are still your family. Pay them a visit, you don’t have to pay them a dime.