Serena Williams broke her silence after critics slammed her decision to perform a gang-related ‘crip walk’ at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday.
Williams made a surprise cameo during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance, raising more than a few eyebrows by performing the ‘crip walk.’
The ‘crip walk’ is associated with the Crips street gang and the notorious area of Compton, California. Williams performed the move while Lamar performed his Drake diss track “Not Like Us.”
Making it more odd was that the 43-year-old tennis legend took the opportunity to jab Drake clearly as a clapback because she dated him years ago.
Why would a happily married person troll their ex in a very public setting, all while doing a gang sign dance? Let’s find out.
Serena Williams Explains Her Actions
Serena Williams explained in an Instagram video that her decision to perform with Lamar was based more on their childhood ties to Compton than anything Drake-related.
She also said it was retribution for being heavily criticized for making the same move on the Wimbledon court in London after beating Maria Sharapova for the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
“When @kendricklamar and team called and was like ‘we’ve been trying to do something forever, what about this? We loved your crip walk at the Olympics after you won the gold medal,'” she said in the video.
“I’m like Super Bowl? Are you serious? When in the world would I ever be able to dance at a superbowl? (Never) let’s do it!”
“I knew my winning dance after the @olympics would pay off one day,” she said. “End of story.”
RELATED: Serena Williams Causes Controversy With Gang-Related ‘Crip Walk’ At Super Bowl Halftime Show
Why Take A Shot At Drake?
That’s not really the end of the story, though. We’re all supposed to believe she appeared with Lamar based more on the fact that the two grew up in Compton, with a population of nearly 100,000 people, and less on the fact that she dated the very person who is the target of his Grammy-winning music.
Puh-lease.
ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith blasted Serena Williams for the move, suggesting that her husband, Alexis Ohanian, should consider hiring a divorce lawyer.
Stephen A. Smith on Serena Williams' cameo during the Super Bowl halftime show: "If I'm married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass. 'Cause clearly you don't belong with me. What you worried about him for and you're with me? Bye. Bye." pic.twitter.com/uiYI2ltK4k
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 10, 2025
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass, ‘cause clearly you don’t belong with me,” Smith said.
“What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
Ohanian, for his part, defended Serena and apparently bought her excuse of it being payback for the Olympic criticism.
“Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows….,” he wrote on X. “This is bigger than the music.”
Yeah, it is. It’s about Drake.
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