Steven A. Smith has finally had to answer for his comments about tennis star Serena Williams’ Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, after her husband, Alexis Ohanian, confronted him live on air.
During Thursday night’s episode of ESPN’s First Take, Ohanian decided to press Smith about his unsolicited advice about Williams’ crip-walking to Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track “Not Like Us”, which left him flustered.
“Stephen A. Smith, I think you had some marriage advice for me,” Ohanian asked as the segment was coming to an end.
“You hadn’t been married before, right? Cause I give advice to plenty of founders who want to build billion-dollar companies. And the reason I do that is because I build billion-dollar companies.” – Alexis Ohanian just checked Stephen A. Smith https://t.co/YghAXHoMrR pic.twitter.com/lks6l9zPEI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 9, 2025
“Listen, I didn’t… Headlines are headlines. We can get into that another time. … I am not qualified. Marital advice? No, not me,” Smith said, seemingly thrown by Ohanian’s statement.
“Well I was going to ask you, because you haven’t been married before, right? Because I give advice to plenty of founders who want to build billion-dollar companies, and the reason I do that is because I built billion-dollar companies. So I generally try to stay in my lane in the advice department,” Ohanian said before he was quickly cut off.
Stephen A. Smith on Serena Williams’ cameo during the Super Bowl halftime show: “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.” pic.twitter.com/uiYI2ltK4k
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 10, 2025
Back in February, Smith said: “If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his a–.Cause clearly you don’t belong with me. What [are] you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”