Serena Williams Shut Down A Misconception About Her Super Bowl Cameo

The most talked-about athlete of Super Bowl LIX was arguably not one of the football players — it was tennis legend Serena Williams. Making a cameo in Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 halftime performance, she went viral both for her dance moves and her past with Lamar’s rival Drake. Some viewers on X (formerly Twitter) went so far as to say she was “dancing on [his] grave.”

Addressing The Drake Drama

In her new Time 100 interview, Williams finally addressed whether or not she was throwing shade at her rumored ex. Her response was emphatic: “Absolutely not.” Though Drake called her husband, Alexis Ohanian, a “groupie” in his 2022 song “Middle of the Ocean,” she doesn’t seem to have any beef with him.

“I would never do that,” Williams told Time of shading the rapper. “And that was sad, that anyone would ever think that. I respect how they could. Obviously I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not.”

The tennis GOAT added that she’s “never had negative feelings towards” Drake and has “known him for so many years.” As for ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith’s take that she was “trolling her ex,” she noted that she and Ohanian have more important work to do.

“We’re investing in women and in sports,” she said. “This is literally the last thing on our minds. Come on.”

The Meaning Of Her Halftime Moment

During Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, Williams memorably appeared as he performed his hit diss track “Not Like Us.” She could be seen crip-walking on a platform, in a nod to her and Lamar’s shared Compton, California, roots.

“Who would have thought that a tennis player from Compton would be regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time?” she told Time. “It was just putting an exclamation on it.”

On Feb. 11, two days after the Super Bowl, Williams wrote about her performance on Instagram and indicated the opportunity came from Lamar and his team. She said they called and told her they had been “trying to do something forever” and “loved” her crip walk at the 2012 London Olympics, when she celebrated winning the gold medal.

“I’m like Super Bowl? Are you serious?” she added in her caption. “When in the world would I ever be able to dance at a superbowl? (Never) let’s do it!”

Given all the speculation and controversy it inspired, however, Williams seems to feel more conflicted about it now. “I don’t know if I regret it or not,” she told Time. “I don’t know the answer to that.”