Shaquille O’ Neal To Challenge Diddy With Vodka Line + South’s 1st Black Republican

Ex-NBA baller Shaquille O’Neal is joining the growing trend of celebrities in the wine and spirits industry. According to Page Six, the 40-year-old is launching his own line of vodka — titled “Luv Shaq.” For you health conscious consumers, the Vodka is sugar and gluten-free, available in coconut flavor. Drew Adelman, founder of Devotion Vodka, which is producing Shaq’s sauce, says that this brand of Vodka will directly compete with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Ciroc, but at a

“more competitive price.”

The brand is scheduled to launch early 2012.

And in other news, Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Rep. Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate on Monday, making him the South’s first black Republican senator since Reconstruction in a state whose politics is steeped in the history of slavery and Civil War. The 47-year-old stated during the press conference,

“It speaks to the evolution of South Carolina and our nation.”

Scott will be sworn in Jan. 3.