Stephen A. Smith doubled on what he said about tennis legend Serena Williams’ Super Bowl halftime show appearance dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s song “They not like us.” During the show, she made a brief appearance dancing to the tune of the song, which went viral as a diss track about Williams’ ex, Drake.
Eight months after the incident, Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, confronted Stephen A.Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” on Oct.9. On Friday on “The Pivot” podcast, the ESPN analyst opened up about the whole incident.
“Serena Williams husband, it would have been an entirely different situation if I were in studio. … All I was saying was, as men, if I’m married and my wife got the energy and the fervor to show up on Super Bowl Sunday and go out on stage specifically to dance off of a song that’s disrespecting her ex, my question would be, what’s that energy about? Why do you have that? You supposed to be happy with me.
“I should not have said it this way. I’ll concede that. …If I was face to face, and he had come at me that way, I would have simply said, ‘Sir, I didn’t mean it that way, but do you really want me to take it there?’ Because if you really want me to take it there, then I’ll ask the question again.”
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Back in February, Stephen A. Smith criticized Serena Williams for her crip walking dance, questioning why she was trolling her ex as a married woman.
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his a**,” Smith said. “Because clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
Alexis Ohanian decided to call out the ESPN analyst despite his virtual presence during Oct.9’s episode of “First Take.”
“Stephen A.Smith, I think you had some marriage advice for me. Is that right?” Ohanian said. “I was hoping you were gonna be here. I was gonna ask you cause you hadn’t been married before, right? I give advice to plenty of founders who want to build billion-dollar companies, and the reason I do that is because I build billion dollar companies. So I generally try to stay in my lane.”
Following the confrontation, Stephen A. Smith shared a video on YouTube addressing what had happened while reiterating his initial comments about Serena Williams. He stated that he did not recall saying anything negative about the couple and was only questioning why the Tennis legend had that energy for an ex.
Ex-NBA star calls out Stephen A. Smith after getting confronted by Alexis Ohanian on national television
After what happened between the ESPN analyst and Serena Williams’ husband on “First Take”, retired NBA star Stephen Jackson reacted to the situation.
On his Instagram stories, he called out Stephen A. Smith for being silent while being pressed by Alexis Ohanian. He stated that the analyst would have been more vocal if it were LeBron James.
“Come on, Stephen A., bro. You get loud and all in your feelings about Bron, when talking to a Black billionaire, but when you talking to a white billionaire, you humble. And you come back on your show talking real respectful, mild-mannered. … Stay out of politics and stick to talking about sports you never played, right?”
Stephen A. Smith has apologized to both Serena Williams and Aleix Ohanian for his comments. However, it will be interesting to see if the issue gets dragged further along.