Serena Williams Criticism Backfires as Stephen A. Smith Confronts Alexis Ohanian’s Dig Trastitulares
Back in February 2025, when Kendrick Lamar performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, nobody expected that Serena Williams would make a cameo. Following this, Williams’ brief yet inevitable performance garnered a lot of attention. And, one key figure who didn’t seem impressed was sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, who had a controversial take on the former WTA icon. However, recently, Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, confronted Smith on live TV. But, just when everyone thought the matter was done and dusted, Smith seems to have begun a new controversy with his latest response – although with an apology.
On October 9, Ohanian appeared on an episode of *First Take*, where he interacted with Smith who was present remotely. The Reddit co-founder chose to confront Smith regarding his comments over Serena Williams. “Stephen A. Smith, I think you had some marriage advice for me?” Smith then tried to divert from the topic in a candid way saying, “we can get into it another time.”
Ohanian was not in the mood to spare him. Giving a fitting reply he told Smith, “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.”
Fast forward to this week and Smith was seen making clarity for all that he said. In an episode of The Pivot podcast, dated October 17, he responded to Serena’s husband saying, “He clearly took it differently. He has a right to. I don’t think that he’s wrong for taking it differently. I did not mean it that way.”
But he still defended his original comments that he made months ago. “However, he once again clarified that his intention was not to hurt anyone. Addressing Ohanian, he said, “I’d apologize to you because I meant no disrespect, right?” Further, he also made his point clear that he didn’t want to show Serena in bad light. “I apologize to her as well.” He added, “I didn’t mean it the way it was taken. I was just talking about from a man’s perspective. That’s all.” Concluding his reaction, he simply told Ohanian, “You live your life. I live mine. It won’t happen again. I didn’t mean it like that.”
But, was Serena actually taking a jab at Drake? Well, the tennis legend herself gave a crystal clear response a while ago.
Serena Williams clarifies her stance on her Super Bowl performance
Back in April, the TIME magazine honored Serena Williams by including her in the list of top 100 Most Influential People. During her interview with the magazine, she opened up about a lot of things from her personal life.
When the interviewer tried to get a clarity on her Super Bowl performance, she didn’t mince words. “So was Williams throwing shade at Drake?” To this, the 44-year-old clearly said, “Absolutely not.” In fact, the tennis icon told Time that she discussed with her team whether she should partake in the performance, considering it would probably draw some kind of negativity.
“I would never do that. And that was sad, that anyone would ever think that. I respect how they could. Obviously I can see how someone would think that.” She further added, “I have never had negative feelings towards him. We’ve known him for so many years.”
Well, there remains no doubt anymore after Williams’ own response on this entire controversy.
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