Stephen A Smith is apologizing Wednesday afternoon after comparing Rihanna and Beyonce on his appearance on the Sherri Shepherd Daytime talk show Wednesday morning.
The ESPN personality was asked if he was ‘excited’ about the halftime show, but instead of simply saying yes or no, he decided to compare the women insinuating that Bey is better performer than Rihanna.
According to Complex he said:
“I don’t wanna say I’m not excited,” he said in response, with the ensuing moments including audible reactions from the audience. “She’s fantastic. That’s not where I’m going with this. 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.”
From there, Smith elaborated on his assessment, although one could very (very!) easily argue that comparing the two artists serves no tangible purpose at all.
“Hold on. … The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl, with and without Bruno Mars and Coldplay,” he said, referencing Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performances in 2013 and 2016.
Shepherd pushed back, noting that Beyoncé has “had her time” with the Super Bowl format and that it’s now Rihanna’s moment. But Smith continued, at first applying the same argument to the realm of television by placing Shepherd in a league of her own while noting that doing so still allowed room to appreciate the “greatness” of others, all while acknowledging “levels” within the field.
“Rihanna’s music is fantastic,” Smith said. “She’s great. She’s a sister. I love her dearly. I listen to her music. I’m gonna support her until the cows come home. I’m just telling you: for me, there’s Beyoncé and there’s everybody else. Just like there was Michael Jackson and there’s everybody else.”
Deeper into the video, he points out the impossibility of Rihanna being “bad” in her performance due to her being “too great not to be good.”
After people called him out on his words, he took to social media to apologize.
According to TMZ he said:
“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 Super Bowl halftime show,” Smith said on Wednesday.
Stephen A. clarified his words … saying he personally believes Beyoncé’s performance was so iconic, that anyone who gets the opportunity to do the halftime show will “have to measure up to that.”
“I meant it as no disrespect to Rihanna. I know she’s phenomenal and she’s my sister. Nothing but love for her, but Beyoncé is my sister, too.”
Stephen A. ends his apology by saying he knows Rihanna will do her thing next month … and he’s looking forward to watching her perform.
Watch:
Apologies to Rihanna for my words, gotta be more careful! pic.twitter.com/RLcsaQAJ4v
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 18, 2023
and
Horrific mistake. Something that was suppose to be a fun moment on the Sherri Shepard show has gotten out of hand. An overzealous member on my MGMT team — which has access to my account — posted something I would NEVER say about @rihanna, her fans or any other artist. The post…
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 18, 2023
and
Has been removed. My social management team will never make a mistake like this again. My apologies again to @Rihanna. And just to be clear, I’m a huge fan. Sherri and I were just having fun. That is all.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 18, 2023
Twitter Navy isnt done with him though:
Not Stephen A. Smith done apologized all-got-damn-ready 😭 pic.twitter.com/izU7VXIOdP
— thong song enthusiast. (@thePLAINESTjane) January 18, 2023
and
Stephen Smith is a loser. pic.twitter.com/mQTj7mTYeq
— Wendy’s Hot Mic (@gooonicorn) January 18, 2023
and
Mother gagged him. pic.twitter.com/vMjOYGSiBi
— Madamaxx 🦢 (@LouisanaNavy) January 18, 2023
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