Former tennis participant Serena Williams has made it clear that her look throughout Kendrick Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl halftime efficiency earlier this yr wasn’t meant to impress her ex boyfriend, singer-songwriter Drake. In a latest interview with Time journal, the tennis legend seemed again on her cameo on the large sport, the place she was briefly proven as Kendrick carried out Not Like Us, his explosive diss monitor aimed on the rapper. The efficiency happened on the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans and immediately sparked hypothesis about whether or not Serena was deliberately taking a shot at her former flame.
When requested immediately if her look was a diss towards Drake, to whom she was romantically linked within the early 2010s, Serena mentioned, “Completely not.” She elaborated, “I’d by no means do this. And that was unhappy, that anybody would ever assume that. I respect how they may. Clearly I can see how somebody would assume that. However completely not. I’ve by no means had unfavorable emotions in the direction of him. We have recognized him for therefore a few years.”
“Better not speak on Serena” 🤭 @serenawilliams makes a cameo at the #SuperBowl halftime show 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KBjyPMeom9
— billboard (@billboard) February 10, 2025
Although her cameo stirred conversations on-line, Serena admitted she nonetheless has combined emotions about it. “I do not know if I remorse it or not. I do not know the reply to that,” she mentioned.
The backstory between the 2 artists goes past the Tremendous Bowl second. In 2022, Drake name-checked Williams in his music Center of the Ocean, rapping, Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie. Kendrick appeared to reply on Serena’s behalf in Not Like Us, the place he immediately rapped, higher not converse on Serena.
Serena, through the interview, additionally shared how the halftime collaboration with Kendrick got here collectively. “We have been making an attempt to do one thing collectively for ages,” she defined. Their connection traces again to the 2012 London Olympics, the place Kendricl admired Williams’ Crip-walk as a proud show of their shared Los Angeles roots. That iconic second led him to ask her to carry the identical vibe to the Tremendous Bowl stage years later.
Regardless of the hypothesis, Serena emphasised there was no hidden agenda—only a longtime mutual respect and a shared love for his or her hometown.
