Serena Williams receives apology after husband called out presenter | Tennis | Sport
American Sports presenter Stephen A Smith has apologised to tennis star Serena Williams and has somewhat backtracked on a comment made during the Super Bowl back in February. It comes after he was called out by Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian.
Tennis legend Williams made a special appearance during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show of the Super Bowl. A theory emerged that her appearance purposely came during a song called ‘Not Like Us’, which throws shade on Lamar’s rival Drake. It’s reported that Drake was an ex-partner of Williams.
In an offhand comment on First Take following the show, ESPN’s Smith said: “If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his a**. Cause clearly you don’t belong with me.
“What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
Those comments have now come back to bite him when Ohanian appeared on the show himself this week. He was quick to call out the presenter.
“Stephen A. Smith, I think you had some marriage advice for me, is that right?” He asked. Smith replied with an awkward laugh before Ohanian added, “You hadn’t been married before, right?
“Cause 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 in the advice department.”
The situation has now been addressed by Smith himself during an appearance on The Pivot podcast. The presenter explained his comments and apologised to Williams.
“I should not have said it this way, I’ll concede that. But going to commercial, joking around, I said, ‘Take your a** back to him,’” Smith said.
“All I was saying is as men, if I’m married, if my wife got the energy and the fervor to show up in Super Bowl Sunday and go out onstage specifically to dance off of a song that’s disrespecting her ex, my question would be, ‘What’s that energy about?’ You’re supposed to be happy with me.”
He added: “I don’t think that he’s wrong for taking it differently,” he explained. “And to his face, I would have said to him what I just said … and I would own that and I would apologise.”
He also sent an apology to Williams specifically, saying: “I’m not casting aspersions on Serena Williams in any way, and I apologise to her as well. I didn’t mean it the way it was taken, I was just speaking from a man’s perspective.”
