Serena Williams shocked the audience when she made a surprise cameo at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show with Kendrick Lamar.
“Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!” Williams, 43, wrote via X on Sunday, February 9, alongside a video of her dancing while rocking her performance outfit, which included a blue pleated mini skirt and a matching jacket with a white top underneath. The tennis legend paired the look with blue-and-white sneakers and wore her hair down.
Williams turned heads during the performance when the cameras panned to her dancing on top of a platform while Lamar, 37, rapped his hit track “Not Like Us.” Despite speculation that Lamar would not perform the track, he brought the tune — which is a diss at Drake — to the stage.
Fans pointed out that Williams’ appearance continued to fuel Lamar and Drake’s ongoing feud, as Williams and Drake, 38, were romantically linked in the early 2010s. (Williams and Drake never publicly confirmed their relationship.)
“Bruhhh Kendrick got Serena Williams to Crip Walk at the damn Super Bowl , there is no way Drake can come back from this lmao,” one user wrote via X, while another added, “the crowd…..serena williams …..drake is never gonna show his face again.” (The Crip Walk dance was popularized by gang members in Compton, California, where both Lamar and Williams were raised.)
Williams, for her part, reacted to her dance moves in a separate post via X. “Man, I did not Crip Walk like that at Wimbledon. Ooh, I would have been fined!” Williams said. “It was all love.” She captioned the video, “Super Bowl halftime show babyyyyyyyyy.”
Back in 2012, Williams made headlines when she nabbed the “Golden Slam” title and celebrated with her own rendition of the Crip Walk — and drew criticism from fans.
“What Serena did was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church,” Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock wrote. “Serena deserved to be called out. What she did was immature and classless.”
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Williams, for her part, responded to the comments in an interview with Us Weekly. “It’s getting so much attention,” Williams told Us at the time. “It just happened. I was so excited that it just came out. I guess I’m good at it!”
Williams explained that she didn’t “care” about the criticism. “That’s the least of my worries,” she said. “I’m so excited I was able to do the dance. I’m glad I did it!”
