Serena Williams Addresses Throwing Shade at Drake at the Super Bowl & Her Answer Is Totally Unexpected
When Serena Williams appeared on the field while Kendrick Lamar was performing his infamous Drake diss track, “Not Like Us,” at the Super Bowl, it didn’t take long for people to allege that the tennis star was shading her ex-boyfriend. However, Williams says we’ve got it all wrong.
In her TIME100 interview, Williams said that she and Lamar, both Compton natives, have “been trying to do something together for ages,” and explained that the rapper was a fan of her famous crip walk after winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, a dance move that received backlash.
Williams felt that the Super Bowl appearance was a chance to amplify her background. “Who would have thought that a tennis player from Compton would be regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time?” she said. “It was just putting an exclamation on it.”
So was there any part of her that was shading Drake? Williams and Drake were romantically linked several times between 2011 and 2015 so her appearance on Lamar’s stage amid his high-profile beef with the Canadian rapper was interpreted as an obvious diss.
However, Williams denies it. “Absolutely not,” she said when asked if she was taking a shot at Drake. “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. But absolutely not. I have never had negative feelings towards him. We’ve known him for so many years.”
When asked about the reaction, including ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith’s statement that if he were married to Williams, he’d divorce her over the dance during the halftime show, Williams notes her husband’s “eloquent” response.
In response to Smith, Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian tweeted a screenshot of an article lambasting his wife for crip walking at the Olympics. “Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows…. This is bigger than the music,” he wrote.
Williams has consistently denied dating Drake, whom she was last linked to in 2015 when photos of them kissing at dinner emerged. Williams and Ohanian started dating later that same year and married in November 2017, two months after welcoming their first daughter, Olympia. Their second daughter, Adira, was born in 2023.
Before you go, click here to see Serena Williams’ full dating history.