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Stephen A. Smith suggested he would have a problem with Serena Williams' Super Bowl halftime appearance if he was married to the tennis superstar.
On Sunday (February 9), Williams joined Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance, crip walking to his Drake diss track "Not Like Us."
The appearance was an apparent nod to her past relationship with Drake, who she was romantically linked to in the 2010s.
Smith said he wouldn't appreciate Williams' halftime cameo if he were Alexis Ohanian, the tennis player's husband.
“If I’m your husband, I’m thinking, ‘Why are you up there trolling him—trolling your ex?’” Smith said during a recent episode of ESPN's "First Take." “If I’m married, and my wife is going to troll her ex—go back to his ass. Because clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for—and you with me?”
The ESPN host, who also pointed out that Lamar's halftime guest, SZA, had dated Drake too, added, “Everybody knows that she and Drake were together at one time, and it seemed like everyone wanted to get their lick.”
ESPN commentator Ryan Clark disagreed with Smith's take, saying “If you with Serena Williams, you’re going to be a kept man anyway—don’t start that.”
“I think [Alexis] is doing pretty well," NFL Hall of Famer turned commentator Shannon Sharpe added. "He founded Reddit and then he sold Reddit for a big chunk of change. I think he OK.”
Despite Smith's take, Ohanian seemingly had no problem with the performance, calling the halftime show "pretty fantastic" in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
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