SAG strikers call foul on Shaq's Disneyland ad

LOS ANGELES - Shaquille O'Neal's decision to film commercials for Walt Disney Co. amusement parks just seconds after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title Monday night isn't playing well with unions striking against the advertising industry.

Moments after the Lakers' victory, NBC's camera showed O'Neal filming versions of the now-familiar ad in which newly crowned sports heroes say they're heading to Disneyland.

"We're obviously deeply disappointed by that," said Screen Actors Guild spokesman Greg Krizman, who said O'Neal is a SAG member. "Unlike some other athletes who are not media-wise or savvy, Shaquille O'Neal has done movies and music videos. I think he's at a much higher level of awareness of SAG and what our issues are. So the fact that he'd go ahead and do it is disappointing."

Leonard Armato, O'Neal's Santa Monica-based agent, said O'Neal viewed the spot more as a public-service announcement than a commercial, "and the revenue that changed hands was directed to charity. Shaq remains supportive of the strike and feels an affinity with the actors. This was a one-time result of a championship won by the Lakers. That's why it happened."

Disneyland spokesman Joe Aguirre said the commercial "focused on Shaquille not as an actor but as an athlete at the crowning moment of achievement." Aguirre also said O'Neal directed the payment to the Shaquille O'Neal Charitable Foundation.

Members of SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are staging what's likely to become the longest strike ever by actors against the advertising industry. At issue is how actors are to be compensated for ads running on network and cable TV. The strike hasn't shut down production of new commercials, however, and some producers are moving commercial shoots outside of Los Angeles to escape picket lines.

Aguirre declined to comment on the strike, but SAG maintained that most athletes are honoring the union's request not to cross picket lines. Players' unions that represent pro athletes also have advised members not to cross picket lines.

"There obviously are some exceptions to the support we're receiving, and Shaquille O'Neal is the most noticeable and most troubling," Krizman said. According to SAG rules, O'Neal could be asked to appear before a disciplinary review committee. "I'd say that's likely to happen to anyone caught scabbing during the strike," Krizman said.

Nike commercials featuring top sprinters Michael Johnson and Marion Jones have been filmed within the past three weeks, said Nike spokesman Scott Reames. Most Nike athletes who are SAG members didn't even know they were in the union, he said.

Guild membership is mandatory for those appearing in commercials.

"These people are athletes," Reames said. "We're using them as athletes. We're not hiring a 24-year-old African American to portray Tiger Woods. We're using Tiger Woods. We're not taking a job away from an actor."

Woods, however, bowed out of a Nike commercial that was to begin production the day after the strike began last month. Reames said the company has since talked to all of its athletes and nobody has refused to shoot an ad because of the strike.

Woods, who won the U.S. Open on Sunday, has yet to be called on by Nike for another ad.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.