Serena Williams made a surprise cameo during Super Bowl LIX.

The former tennis star appeared during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show, which punctuated the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs

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The 23-time Grand Slam winner appeared for less than five seconds, but captured the world’s attention with her crip-walking skills (a dance that was popularized by gang members in Compton, California, where both Lamar and Williams were raised) during the rendition of ‘Not Like Us’.

Her brief cameo sparked some debate online, especially considering Lamar’s song is a diss track toward the rapper Drake, whom Williams reportedly dated in 2011, even though they never publicly confirmed their alleged romance.

ESPN First Take regular Stephen A. Smith reacted to Williams’ appearance on Monday’s episode of the in-studio sports show, and didn’t hold back.

Smith said it was poor look for the tennis legend to join in on dissing Drake given she now has a family of her own and was romantically involved with him nearly 15 years ago.

“You could say give her props. If I’m your husband, why are you up there trolling your ex?” 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 you worried about him for and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.”

Smith’s co-host Ryan Clark responded, “If you were with Serena Williams, you’re going to be a kept man anyways. Don’t start that.”

Williams is married to Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, with whom she shares two daughters with.

“Pretty fantastic halftime show,” Ohanian wrote on X on Sunday.

X@awfulannouncing

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He also re-posted a tweet of Williams dancing with a caption that read, “Highlight of the Super Bowl.”

After Stephen A.’s comments went viral on Monday, Ohanian posted a message indirectly shutting down Smith and all of Williams’ critics.

“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 posted, referring to the backlash she faced for doing the same dance after winning Olympic gold at Wimbledon in 2012.

Ohanian also shared an old screenshot of sports commentator Jason Whitlock’s past remarks, where Whitlock slammed Serena’s Wimbledon celebration.

“What Serena did was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church. Serena deserved to be called out. What she did was immature and classless,” Whitlock posted at the time.

Ohanian also shared a clip from Kendrick Lamar’s set, where Samuel L. Jackson, dressed like ‘Uncle Sam’, sarcastically exclaimed: “Oh no, no! Too loud! Too reckless! Too… ghetto.”

Despite Smith’s remarks, Williams seemed to be lapping up the attention from her Super Bowl appearance, sharing multiple videos on Instagram of her dancing.

Just before her cameo, she also took to X to defend Taylor Swift after the singer was booed by fans in attendance at Caesars Superdome when she appeared on the stadium’s jumbotron.

‘I love you Taylor Swift, don’t listen to those booo!!’ Williams wrote.

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