Serena Williams’ husband reacts to her halftime show cameo

Amber Raiken, The Independent

Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, has reacted to his wife’s appearance in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, following her dating history with the rapper’s arch-rival, Drake. Ohanian praised his wife on X/Twitter on Sunday night after she briefly danced on stage at Caesar’s Superdome as Lamar performed his Grammy-award-winning song, “Not Like Us.”

“Pretty fantastic halftime show,” the Reddit founder tweeted. On Instagram, he also shared a series of photos from the game and show, including one of Williams dancing as she wore a blue tennis skirt and matching jacket. The post included a snap of him and Williams’s eldest daughter, Olympia, seven, sitting in the stands. Williams was previously linked romantically with Drake — who is the target of Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Reports about the pair first emerged in 2011 but intensified in 2015 after they were spotted at a restaurant in Cincinnati following Williams’s win at the WTA tournament.

Although Williams never publicly confirmed the relationship, Drake sang about their romance in his 2016 song “Too Good.”

“I’m too good to you / I’m way too good to you / You take my love for granted / I just don’t understand it,” he sings in the track. During a conversation with his mother, Sandi Graham, in 2024, Drake officially confirmed that this tune was about Williams. “No, I get heavy on a couple joints, but this is more about me and Serena,” he said in the clip, before Graham responded: “I gather that!” Drake also referenced Williams in his 2022 track, “Middle of the Ocean.”

“Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie / He claim we don’t got a problem but / No, boo, it is like you coming for sushi,” he rapped.

Ohanian didn’t hesitate to hit back at Drake’s dig at the time. “The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do — including being the best groupie for my wife & daughter,” he wrote on X alongside a picture of him and Olympia watching Wiliams play.

Following the Super Bowl performance, Williams shared a video on Instagram of herself getting her hair and makeup done for the event. She showcased her crip-walking skills, recreating a dance move made famous by the Los Angeles Crips in the Seventies. “Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!” she wrote in the caption. Along with Williams, SZA and Samuel L. Jackson were among Lamar’s special guests at the halftime show, as he rifled through hits including “DNA,” “Humble” and “All the Stars.” Fans were waiting to see if the rapper would perform “Not Like Us,” which includes brutal lyrics about Drake including allegations about his interactions with younger women.

In one line referencing Drake’s 2021 album, Lamar raps: “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophile.” However, during his halftime performance, Lamar omitted the word pedophile as well as the n-word throughout. Last month, Drake sued his own record label, Universal Music Group — which also represents Lamar — for defamation over “Not Like Us.” Though Lamar is not named in the suit, the filing claims that Universal knew the pedophilia allegations were false but “chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”

It additionally claims that Universal “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”

“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical,” UMG told The Independent in a statement.