Alexis Ohanian is defending wife Serena Williams from critics slamming her surprise cameo in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Ohanian, 41, took to X on Monday, February 10, to share an excerpt from an article quoting media pundit Jason Whitlock, who bashed Williams, 43, for dancing on sports’ biggest stage and said she “deserved to be criticized and she should’ve immediately apologized.” Whitlock, 57, complained that Williams’ performance “was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church.”
To that, Ohanian responded: “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 also shared a clip of Samuel L. Jackson emceeing the halftime extravaganza in character as “Uncle Sam,” scolding Lamar, 37, and his dancers: “Too loud, too reckless — too ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”
Williams’ fans loved to see her having such a good time, but others reacted disapprovingly — not unlike Uncle Sam did in real time on Sunday.
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass,” Stephen A. Smith said on Monday’s episode of First Take. “Cause clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”
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. pic.twitter.com/Xq4O96Yg0s
— Alexis Ohanian 🗽 (@alexisohanian) February 11, 2025
While Lamar rapped his hit diss track “Not Like Us” during Sunday’s show, cameras panned to Williams, who was crip walking on top of a platform inside New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome. (The dance was popularized by gang members in Compton, California, where both Lamar and Williams were raised.)
Williams’ appearance fueled Lamar and Drake’s ongoing feud. Williams and Drake, 38, were romantically linked in the early 2010s, but did not publicly confirm their alleged romance.
Lamar’s “Not Like Us” has a line where the rapper tells his nemesis that he “better not speak on Serena.” The tennis legend addressed the song while hosting the ESPY Awards in July 2024.
“If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that none of us, not a single one of us, not even me, should ever pick a fight with Kendrick Lamar,” Williams said at the time. “He will make your hometown not like you. The next time Drake sits courtside at a Raptors game, they’re going to Forrest Gump him. Seats taken.”
Ohanian, meanwhile, continues to be Williams’ No. 1 cheerleader.
“Pretty fantastic halftime show,” he wrote via X on Sunday, reposting footage of Williams dancing with a caption that read, “Highlight of the Super Bowl.”
