Stephen A. Smith Admits He “Went Too Far” in Serena Williams Comment
"I should not have said it this way, I'll concede that."
Apparently, there is a way to get Stephen A Smith to unwind his takes.
All the way back in February, after the Super Bowl, Smith made an offhand comment on First Take, giving the verbal equivalent of a side-eye to retired tennis legend Serena Williams, who appeared during the halftime show alongside rapper Kendrick Lamar. Atop the shared Compton heritage of both Williams and Lamar, many fans connected the dots that Williams specifically appeared during the hit beef track “Not Like Us” to throw dirt on the grave of Drake, Lamar’s opponent in a long-lasting beef, and Williams’ supposed ex.
Referencing this dynamic on First Take, Smith tossed out that if he were married to Williams, he would tell her to “go back to his a**.”
When Williams’ real-life husband appeared on the show this week to promote an event, he addressed the comments with Smith.
“I think you had some marriage advice for me, is that right?” Ohanian said to Smith, who was hosting the show remotely.
Smith was caught off guard in the moment, but he addressed the situation more fully in an interview on
“I should not have said it this way, I’ll concede that. But going to commercial, joking around, I said, ‘Take your a** back to him,'” Smith said.
“All I was saying is as men, if I’m married, if my wife got the energy and the fervor to show up in Super Bowl Sunday and go out onstage specifically to dance off of a song that’s disrespecting her ex, my question would be, ‘What’s that energy about?’ You’re supposed to be happy with me.”
Smith also said that if he had been in the room with Ohanian, he would have owned his mistake and apologized.
“I don’t think that he’s wrong for taking it differently,” he explained. “And to his face, I would have said to him what I just said … and I would own that and I would apologize.”
Further detailing that he aimed to relate to the audience and express shock that Williams so comfortably addressed an old ex, Smith also delivered an apology to Williams.
“I’m not casting aspersions on Serena Williams in any way, and I apologize to her as well,” Smith added. “I didn’t mean it the way it was taken, I was just speaking from a man’s perspective.”
After apologizing, Smith issued a plea to the audience and anyone who comes across his content not to be so disingenuous about these types of comments. Smith believes that the average person likely understood his point and did not receive it as personal toward Williams or Ohanian. While he still owed the couple an apology, he said he speaks with plenty of people privately after viral comments who agree with him but do not defend him.
The incident blew over quickly, both in February and again this week. So it is not as if this will be the one-off line that dooms Smith’s career.
However, he does have a point that audiences appear more eager than ever to strip context away when it comes to a commentator’s history or the broader conversation within a show. Being one of the more prolific hosts in media, Smith makes his fair share of mistakes. But he is also very susceptible to soundbites and viral clips that can snowball beyond his intention.
Vikings’ Javon Hargrave Gets Honest About Eagles’ Jalen Hurts
The Minnesota Vikings will be facing Jalen Hurts, who is coming off a decent performance in the Philadelphia Eagles‘ loss to the New York Giants in Week 6.
Hurts recorded 283 passing yards while completing 72.7 percent of his passes for one touchdown and one interception. Nonetheless, the Eagles fell and will look for a bounce-back win against the Vikings.
Javon Hargrave is a player on the Minnesota squad who is familiar with Hurts. He recently spoke with Vikings Entertainment Network’s Tatum Everett about ensuring his former teammate has a quiet game.
“We just all got to be one with great communication,” Hargrave said about containing Hurts. “We know if he get out that pocket, he’s Superman out there. So, we kind of got to work as a unit to try to keep him in that pocket and don’t let him be able to make a lot of plays.”
Vikings Will Need to Account for Tush Push
When playing against the Eagles, every defense needs to account for the tush push play. Hargrave has experienced both sides of the coin—he’s benefited from the tush push play and now faces the challenge of defending against it.
“It’s just funny because when I was on that side playing with them I love to play,” Hargrave added. “But of course I’m with everybody else. I kind of hate the play. I think the only way you really can stop it is just don’t let them get down there. So we just trying to talk about those things.”
Carson Wentz to Start for Vikings
While the Vikings defense are preparing for Hurts, the question heading into this matchup was who would Minnesota pick to start this game against Philadelphia under center. Despite J.J. McCarthy returning to practice in a limited role, head coach Kevin O’Connell named Carson Wentz the starting quarterback for Week 7.
“I think as opposed to maybe having to designate and list a running back or a receiver, if we get into that situation, I feel comfortable enough in what would be considered that kind of emergency capacity to be able to call some [plays],” said O’Connell (h/t
“I feel good after watching him practice about some of the things that give him some problems at this point but at the same time, some of the things he feels
“And he got a ton of reps this week, both with the first group, and also with getting some real good reps with that look team of feeling the rush of [Jonathan] Greenard and [Dallas] Turner and [Javon] Hargrave and [Jonathan] Allen and really working on some things that are really starting to come to fruition. So, I was proud of the way he attacked the week, and I know, although he knows he’s not quite all the way there yet, he’s progressing in a really good way.”
