Stephen A. Smith recently found himself entangled in a highly publicized beef after making headlines for a heated courtside confrontation with Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James.
The backlash has resulted in Smith’s resurfaced comments about another world-class athlete: Serena Williams. Her cameo appearance during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl LIX did not sit well with the ESPN commentator.
As Lamar performed “Not Like Us” inside New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, Williams crip-walked on the football field to the diss record directed at her ex-boyfriend, Drake.
Smith, 57, suggested that Williams, 43, disrespected her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, by possibly mocking Drake at the Super Bowl as over 133 million viewers watched the mid-game concert.
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling 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?” Smith said on the Feb. 10 episode of the “First Take” television show.
After facing backlash online, the longtime NBA analyst later claimed his comments about Williams were not meant to be taken seriously.
“Please go back and look at exactly what I said,” Smith tweeted on Feb. 11. “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.”
The outspoken bachelor continued, “No issues with folks getting upset of literal serious stuff one’s pissed about. This doesn’t qualify, peeps. Come on. We were joking around on @FirstTake. Damn y’all! It’s not that serious.”
Apparently, Williams did not take Smith’s remarks about her marriage lightly, according to an insider reportedly connected to the 23-time Grand Slam champion, who gave a recent statement to RadarOnline.
“She sees Stephen A. as a self-absorbed, chauvinistic loudmouth who was just trying to get a reaction. He’s already boasted he might run for president and wants to make news outside of sports,” the unnamed source stated.
The insider claims, “Stephen A. talks smack about athletes for a living, but actually casting aspersions on someone’s marriage definitely crossed a line. Serena and Alexis are glad people saw through his BS and he got his just deserts when people slammed him for the a– he is.”
After one year of dating, Ohanian, 41, and Williams married in Nov. 2017. They share two daughters, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., born two months earlier, and Adira River Ohanian, born in August 2023.
Therefore, many were not fond of Smith’s incertions about their marriage including one person on X who wrote, “Stephen is such a weirdo. Divorce? Serena Williams is married to an Armenian from Brooklyn who wore a DARE t-shirt to a tennis match against her dope-shooting opponent. He probably helped her stretch before the performance. A petty prince.”
Ohanian replied at the time, “Armenian men: we’re a little extreme when it comes to family.”
Armenian men: we're a little extreme when it comes to family.
— Alexis Ohanian(@alexisohanian) February 12, 2025
Many went onto praise him for standing up for his family and rocking a Drug Abuse Resistance Education shirt for Williams’ U.S. Open match against her tennis rival Maria Sharapova, 37 in 2019. Three years earlier, Sharapova had received a two-year ban over a doping scandal, before the suspension was reduced to 15 months.
But speculation of her and Drake being romantically involved began two years before. The Canadian rapper was seen kissing his rumored ladylove and cheering her on at the 2015 U.S. Open tournament in New York City.
Drake & Serena Williams were seen making out at dinner last night. pic.twitter.com/Kkp2tFeKxR
— YOUR MUSIC FIX (@YourMusicFix) August 24, 2015
Some pro tennis watchers blamed the so-called “Drake Curse” for Williams losing the U.S. Open semifinal match against Italian player Roberta Vinci, which cost her the chance to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in one calendar year.
A month later, the Toronto native was spotted front row during a New York Fashion Week runway show for Williams’ HSN Signature Statement Collection.
RT @Steve_OS: Drake at the Serena vs. Vinci US Open match. pic.twitter.com/OE8gwkjLfZ
— Stephen with a PH (@WheatFree32) September 11, 2015
“I get heavy on a couple joints, but this is more about me and Serena,” Drake told his mother, Sandi Graham, about the “Views” track in a behind-the-scenes video released as part of the music superstar’s “100 Gigs” drop.
Drake also said, “If I’m gonna talk about them, I’ll at least do them the justice of making them a song that they like. So, I know Serena very well and I know that she’ll hear it loud and clear, but she’ll also not hate me for it because it’s lighthearted.”
Years after his supposed romance with Williams, Drake dissed the Compton native’s husband on his 2022 song “Middle of the Ocean” when he randomly rapped, “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie.”
The reason I stay winning is because I'm relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do — including being the best groupie for my wife & daughter. pic.twitter.com/oaEKuRWFnj
— Alexis Ohanian
Drake’s disrespectful lyrics about Ohanian did not go unnoticed. The internet entrepreneur subtly fired back at Drizzy on the day “Middle of the Ocean” landed on music streaming platforms.
“The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do — including being the best groupie for my wife and daughter,” Ohanian tweeted on Nov. 4, 2022.
That ongoing cold war between the Williams-Ohanian household and the OVO Sound founder led to hip-hop and sports fans theorizing that Serena’s surprise Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show appearance with Lamar was a clapback at Drake.
Lamar also name-dropped Williams on “Not Like Us.” The Los Angeles-based musician defended the tennis GOAT by rapping, “From Alondra down to Central, n—- better not speak on Serena.”
