Stephen A. Smith refused to back down after courting major controversy for his comments on Serena Williams.
Smith, 57, criticized Williams’ cameo during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Sunday, February 9, insinuating that he would divorce the tennis superstar for “trolling” her rumored ex, Drake, while dancing during “Not Like Us,” a diss track aimed at the rapper.
“Please go back and look at exactly what I said,” Smith posted via X on Tuesday, February 11, in response to some backlash. “I was talking overall from a man’s perspective — highlighting what most men would think. I didn’t utter a single disrespectful word about Serena. No issues with folks getting upset of literal serious stuff one’s pissed about. This doesn’t qualify peeps.”
Smith insisted he was “joking around” during the discussion, which went down on the Monday, February 10, episode of ESPN’s First Take.
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“Damn y’all!” Smith added on social media. “It’s not that serious.”
During the original segment, Smith referenced Williams’ marriage to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, whom the 23-time major champion wed in November 2017. The couple share daughters Olympia, 7, and Adira, 17 months.
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass,” Smith said. “Cause clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
Smith’s remark earned the ire of his First Take cohost Ryan Clark, who said, “If you’re with Serena Williams, you’re going to be a kept man anyway. Don’t start that. You’re not going to run the house. You’re not going to wear the pants in the house.”
In the midst of the conversation surrounding his wife, Ohanian, 41, defended her viral dance moves.
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“Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows….,” Ohanian wrote via X on Monday, February 10. “This is bigger than the music.”
Williams’ performed a crip walk during Lamar’s halftime set, similar to the one she famously did after defeating Maria Sharapova in the 2012 London Summer Olympics at the All-England Club, home of Wimbledon.
The tennis star paid no mind to her haters in a celebratory post about her Super Bowl experience, writing via Instagram on Tuesday, February 11, “I knew my winning dance after the @olympics would pay off one day.”
“When @kendricklamar and team called and was like ‘we’ve been trying to do something forever, what about this?” Williams added. “We loved your crip walk at the Olympics after you won the gold medal.’ I’m like Super Bowl? Are you serious? When in the world would I ever be able to dance at a superbowl? (Never) let’s do it!”
