Less than a day after appearing on comedian Sherri Shepherd’s daytime talk show, Sherri, on Wednesday, ESPN‘s Stephen A. Smith has apologized for slighting upcoming Super Bowl halftime performer Rihanna.
The fiery sports announcer went on his personal Instagram page to clarify his comments when he seemingly dissed Rihanna while talking to Shepherd. When he was asked if he was “excited” about this year’s NFL Super Bowl halftime performance, he responded by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, she’s a lot of things. She’s spectacular, actually. And congratulations on new-momma-hood. There’s one thing she’s not. She ain’t Beyoncé
.”After seeing that he made headlines with that statement, Smith felt the need to respond to what he said earlier that day.
“I just got off of First Take and I saw some headline that’s circulating all over the place about my quote that Rihanna ain’t Beyoncé. See, you know I’m gonna own it. I know what y’all trying to do. But I’m going to own it because I get paid to speak for a living, so I need to be more careful. I want Rihanna to know: You’re a superstar. You’re sensational. You’re spectacular. You’re no joke and you are a worthy person to be doing the Super Bowl halftime show.”
He did state that he is a Beyoncé fan. He went on to give the former Destiny Child‘s lead singer major props for her past Super Bowl halftime performances. He called her “the phenomenal performer.” He reasons that he witnessed her solo performance at the 2013 Super Bowl and her guest appearance (Headliners for that year were Bruno Mars and Coldplay) in 2016. He says that he thought that “those were two of the greatest shows that I’ve ever seen.”
He then continues to plead his case and stated, “I meant it as no disrespect to Rihanna. I know she is phenomenal and she is my sister. Nothing but love for her, but Beyoncé is my sister
too. I got love for the both of them. I just think that Beyoncé is the greatest performer out there today. That’s me, that doesn’t mean I’m hating on anybody else and that doesn’t mean I’m damn well wishing for Rihanna to fail. I think she’s going to be great.”He then apologizes directly to her.
“Rihanna, go do your thing. I apologize for creating whatever brouhaha comes of this. I gotta be more careful, where people twist it and turn it into something it ain’t. My bad on that.”
Check out the full video clip: