Whoopi Goldberg Backs Serena Williams Amid Super Bowl Backlash
Whoopi Goldberg is not here for Stephen A. Smith’s misplaced commentary on Serena Williams’ Super Bowl cameo.
The tennis star had social media buzzing when she appeared during Kendrick Lamar’s explosive Super Bowl halftime performance at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9. As the Grammy Award-winning rapper performed his viral track “Not Like Us,” cameras caught Williams crip walking on top of a platform.
While many saw the moment as a nod to Williams’ Compton roots, the city where she and Lamar were raised, Smith chose to frame it differently.
On the Monday (Feb 10) episode of “First Take,” the sports commentator suggested the athlete was taking a shot at Drake, whom she was romantically linked to in the early 2010s.
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass,” Smith said. “Cause clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
Well, Goldberg wasn’t having it.
“She got a chance to do something she wanted to do, and she went and did it, and instead of saying, ‘Damn, that was kind of great,’ you’re bringing it back to some old stuff,” she said, shutting down Smith’s take. “Stop trying to always make it about somebody’s man.”
Fellow “The View” cohost Sunny Hostin also chimed in, noting that Williams had done the same dance back in 2012 after winning gold at the Olympics against Maria Sharapova.
“She took a lot of criticism for doing that,” Hostin recalled.“What she was doing [at the Super Bowl] was being her authentic self, a homage to her roots from Compton and it was Black joy and Black excellence.”
Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, ultimately caught wind of the drama. Taking to X, the Reddit cofounder subtly weighed in writing, “Some of y'all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows…” adding, “This is bigger than the music.”
Check out the ladies discussing the moment below.
