Stephen A. Smith found an ally in Howard Stern after Smith’s comments about Serena Williams earned major backlash.
Stern, 71, defended ESPN’s Smith, 57, who criticized Williams, 43, for her participation in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Sunday, February 9.
“He’s got a point. I hear what he’s saying,” Stern said Tuesday, February 11, on The Howard Stern Show. “She used to go out with Drake, and by dissing him at the Super Bowl, it indicates she’s still living that whole scenario. He’s right. I agree with Stephen A.”
Williams made a cameo during Lamar’s performance of “Not Like Us,” a diss track about the tennis star’s rumored ex Drake.
When Stern’s cohost, Robin Quivers, clarified that Smith made it sound like he would “divorce” Williams for her behavior, Stern doubled down.
“I would, too. I think I would go along with that. Why not?” Stern asked.
Williams has been married to Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian since November 2017, and the couple share two daughters: Olympia, 7, and Adira, 17 months.
Ultimately, Stern suggested he was jealous of the headlines Smith made with his controversial remarks.
“Did it get him some press? Me too! Can someone put me on that article? Can someone put me in the article please? I can use some press,” the radio host joked.
Smith made his original comments on the Monday, February 10, episode of ESPN’s First Take. “If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass,” he said. “Cause clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
After catching heat for his stance — including from a fired-up Whoopi Goldberg on The View — Smith attempted to explain himself, insisting he was “joking around.”
“Please go back and look at exactly what I said,” Smith wrote via X on Tuesday in response to some backlash. “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. No issues with folks getting upset of literal serious stuff one’s pissed about. This doesn’t qualify peeps.”
Smith added, “Damn y’all! It’s not that serious.”
In the wake of Smith criticizing his wife’s Super Bowl crip walk, Ohanian, 41, defended her with some historical context.
“Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows….,” Ohanian wrote via X on Monday. “This is bigger than the music.”
Williams infamously performed similar moves after defeating Maria Sharapova in the 2012 London Summer Olympics at the All-England Club, home of Wimbledon.
“When @kendricklamar and team called and was like ‘we’ve been trying to do something forever, what about this?” Williams wrote via Instagram on Tuesday. “We loved your crip walk at the Olympics after you won the gold medal.’ 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!”
She added, “I knew my winning dance after the @olympics would pay off one day.”
