WWW - Shaq is fighting back.
Hoops giant Shaquille O'Neal cried foul yesterday over ex-teammate Kobe Bryant's claim that O'Neal shelled out $1 million in hush money to sex partners.
"This whole situation is ridiculous," the married O'Neal told ESPN. Then he lashed out at Bryant.
"I never hang out with Kobe. I never hung around him," O'Neal fumed. "In the seven or eight years we were together [on the Los Angeles Lakers], we were never together. So how this guy can think he knows anything about me or my business is funny.
"And one last thing: I'm not the one buying love. He's the one buying love," the behemoth ballplayer said.
That withering comment was an apparent reference to the gifts - including a $4 million diamond ring - Bryant lavished on wife Vanessa after he admitted cheating on her.
There's never been any love lost between the two players. This latest feud stems from a remark Bryant made to Colorado cops in July 2003 - but only made public Tuesday - after a young hotel concierge accused him of raping her in his room.
"Bryant stated he should have done what Shaq does," a detective wrote in a confidential report obtained by The Los Angeles Times.
"Bryant stated that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything. He stated Shaq has paid up to a million dollars already for situations like this," the detective said.
The criminal rape case against Bryant was dropped earlier this month after his accuser backed out of the prosecution and decided to go after him for big-bucks damages in civil court instead.
But Kobe's incendiary charges against his former teammate may not be the last bombshell to come out of the defunct criminal case.
Yesterday, Bryant's legal team withdrew its objection to opening the files - including Kobe's remarks about O'Neal - to the public after they had been sealed and tightly guarded in the runup to the abandoned trial.
The lawyers changed their minds, saying the details would probably be leaked to the press anyway.
A judge signed off on the unsealing yesterday, and court officials were going through the documents last night to remove the accuser's name and her mental-health history.
It was unclear how long it would take before the papers would be released. Reams of documents were created in numerous pretrial hearings on the accuser's sexual history.
