Serena Williams’ unexpected Super Bowl Cameo continues to garner reactions online. Although many have admired and praised the retired tennis champion, a few critics have lashed out against her performance. Amid the criticism against her wife, her husband, Alexis Ohanian, has spoken out, defending her for appearing in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime show.
Serena Williams’ Husband Defends Her Super Bowl Cameo
Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, was super pleased with her Super Bowl cameo, and he let the world know about it. The Reddit co-founder gave a shoutout to his fashionable wife on social media after her short performance during Kendrick Lamar’s explosive halftime show on Sunday night at the NFL game in New Orleans. He shared two photos of the stadium taken from his VIP suite view on X, formerly Twitter, before writing:
“Pretty fantastic halftime show.”
The next day, Ohanian weighed in on the criticism surrounding Williams’ Super Bowl Cameo. He explained that her performance was a message and an attempt to correct what happened at the 2012 Olympics when she did a crip walk after her victory.
“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.
The 41-year-old tech guru attached a piece of an article criticizing Williams for her dance at the time.
Williams’ Super Bowl Cameo Was A Pleasant Surprise
The tennis icon’s Super Bowl cameo at Caesars Superdome on Sunday shocked many. She came onto the field when Kendrick Lamar began his Grammy-winning diss track Not Like Us, which was targeted at Drake. Williams stood on one side of the field and danced with the Pulitzer Prize winner’s backup dancers. Her dance became one of the night’s biggest highlights, as fans could not stop gushing over her unexpected but beautiful performance.
The performance was not only a beautiful shock for fans, but the retired athlete found release from doing it, too. Immediately after her Super Bowl cameo, Serena Williams went online to share her experience. She wrote on X:
“Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!”
Williams also shared a clip of the events leading up to her cameo in Lamar’s halftime show in a later post on Instagram. She explained why she joined the halftime show.
Serena Williams Was Criticized For Super Bowl Cameo
Serena Williams’ Super Bowl Cameo didn’t garner praise alone; it also led to a fair amount of criticism. Many felt she did it to get back at Drake, who she once dated between 2011 and 2015. Drake and Williams ended their relationship on a sour note, and the rapper has had a hard time letting go. He wrote a song, Too Good, for her in 2016 and took shots at her husband after they got married in 2017, calling Ohanian a “groupie” in his 2022 track, Middle of the Ocean.
Thus, Serena Williams’ Super Bowl cameo didn’t sit well with some people, including sports TV personality Stephen A Smith. The ESPN Analyst said during Monday’s episode of First Take that he would divorce Williams if he were married to her after watching her moves on the field on Sunday night. He said:
“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.”
Thankfully, Serena Williams’ husband doesn’t share Smith and other critics’ opinions about his wife’s Super Bowl cameo.
#Clique, what do you think of Alexis Ohanian’s reaction to his wife’s Super Bowl cameo? Let us know in the comments.
