Stephen A. Smith responds after fans believes Alexis Ohanian checked him over some comments he made towards Serene Williams appearance at the 2024 Super Bowl.
Last week Ohanian appeared on ESPN’s First Take and, while promoting his Athos track & field event, he brought up Smith’s February take that a spouse dancing during a performance tied to an ex would be grounds to “move on.” Ohanian questioned Smith’s qualifications to offer marriage advice, quipping that he only advises founders on “building billion-dollar companies” because he’s done it himself. Smith acknowledged he wasn’t “qualified” to give Ohanian marriage advice as the segment wrapped.
Stephen A. Smith Responds:
After the exchange went viral, Smith followed up on his own platform, saying, “Serena Williams, you know, she is married to a millionaire, Alexis Ohanian, and he came on First Take today,” Smith said on The Stephen A. Smith Show.
“People are talking about how he came at me, and took a sly dig because of what I said when Serena Williams went on stage performing at the Super Bowl. I’ve never met this man I wish I was in the studio today, but I’m not. … It would have been nice to meet him, I don’t know the man. I have nothing against him whatsoever.”
He continued, “when Super Bowl Sunday took place, when Kendrick Lamar was performing, Serena Williams came on stage, dancing to all of that,” he continued. “According to the reports, and stuff like that, she’s the ex of Drake. Essentially, what I said was, ‘Why that energy for an ex?’ … If that was my wife, I don’t want to see that. Because of that, that’s what he was alluding to. I’m glad that it didn’t escalate or anything like that. He is her husband, he loves her dearly. They have two wonderful children together, and I have absolutely no issue with him whatsoever with him wanting to address that situation with me.”
Smith Says He’s A Professional:
“I wasn’t going to get into it on national television, I’m a professional,” he said. “If it had escalated and he wanted to get into it more, we [would’ve] kept the cameras rolling and I would’ve said, ‘Fine.’ But he was sitting there saying, ‘You wasn’t married, right?’ So, you know, you give him marital advice, that’s how he framed it. He says, ‘I give advice about building companies because what I do,’ essentially implying that I’m not married so who am I to say something like that? I think that’s a fair comment on his part. I don’t have to agree with it, but I took no offense to it.”
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