Serena Williams is clearing the air on how she ended up crip-walking in front of the most-watched Super Bowl Sunday ever. Since the halftime show, social media has speculated about whether she joined Kendrick Lamar on the halftime stage to shade Drake. Two days after the viral moment, the tennis champion has given folks their answer!
Serena Williams Shares Details About Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Invite
Before Sunday’s Super Bowl, 2012 was the last year Serena Williams did the C-walk in front of a large audience. At the time, she had won a gold medal at the London Olympics. However, back then, her c-walk wasn’t received with the same praise it got on Kendrick Lamar’s stage. In fact, Williams was dragged in the press for allegedly being inappropriate and glorifying gang violence. It was not seen as a dance honoring her L.A. upbringing.
So, for Serena Williams, performing at the Bowl LIX was her lick, clap, and get back at that energy. She took the opportunity Kenny and his team offered to collab, and c-walked with it!
“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.’ 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. End of story.”
See social media reactions to what she said HERE.
At no point did Serena Williams admit or deny whether shading Drake was also a factor in her Super Bowl moment! In recent years, the rapper went from being publicly infatuated with the tennis pro to dissing her and her husband in his music.
That said, somebody might want to get Boosie on the line! It looks like his recent SPICY take on Serena Williams’ Super Bowl appearance might be a lil’ off, chile!
Serena’s Husband Defends Her Bowl Appearance
On Monday (February 11), Williams’ husband weighed in on her guest spot in Kendrick’s show.
“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,” Alexis Ohanian wrote.
In a second and third post, he highlighted the Philadelphia Eagles dance break in the locker room and teased the “criminal” history of Irish step-dancing and Northern English clog dancing.
Kendrick Lamar’s Performance Becomes Most-Watched
All that aside, Serena Williams’ moment at the Bowl will now be a part of history. According to Roc Nation, Kendrick Lamar’s performance bumped Michael Jackson out of the top spot for the most-watched halftime show with 133.5 million viewers. MJ had 133.4 million in 1993.