Stephen A. Smith is reflecting on the time he made some controversial comments about Rihanna and Beyonce when Rih-Rih was gearing up for her Superbowl halftime performance last year.
While sitting down with the Connect The Dots podcast on Monday (March 4) Smith shared a story about how Jay-Z gave him a call about his comparison a month later. Smith began by saying his initial statement that quickly went viral om social media: “I love Rihanna. I bought her album, she gets my money. Mad love for her, wish her nothing but the best … But you do know there’s only one Beyoncé.”
The First Take host also revealed that some people in the industry who he didn’t name but referred to them as “Hollywood stars” were upset with him for his comments and never spoke to him again. After saying that, Smith spoke on how he and Jay-Z’s conversation went after the backlash. A month later, Hov and I were on the phone,” he shared. “Hov was like, ‘My dawg, you family, that’s family. That’s too close to say that.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know.’ He said, ‘I know.’ Done! “In other words, it’s a business, it’s a part of it, you don’t know how she’ll receive it, etc., etc., etc. That’s all he had to say. I appreciated that.”
If you’re not familiar with Stephen A. Smith’s comments he previously was a guest on Sherri Shepherd’s show back in January of 2023 and he had some words to share about Rhianna before her Superbowl performance.
“There’s one thing she’s not, she ain’t Beyoncé,” he said, which was met with boos from the audience. “The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl.”
After receiving tons of backlash for his comments Stephen A. Took the time to issue an apology.
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“I just got out of First Take and I saw some headline that’s circulating all over the place about my quote that Rihanna ain’t Beyoncé,” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “See, I’m gonna own it. I know what y’all tryna do but I’m gon’ own it because I get paid to speak for a living so I need to be more careful.”
“I want Rihanna to know: you’re a superstar,” he continued. “You’re sensational. You’re spectacular. You’re no joke. And you are a worthy person to be doing the Super Bowl halftime show.
“Having said all of that, I was answering a question from Sherri Shepherd who took over the Wendy Williams Show and now got her own thing going and I’m very proud of her. And she asked me with a bunch of sisters in the audience what she asked me.”
“Now, I’m a Beyoncé fan,” he added. “I think that Beyoncé is not only a phenomenal performer [but] the phenomenal performer. And the only reason any kind of comparison came into play is because Beyoncé performed at halftime at the Super Bowl not just by herself, but one separate Super Bowl performance with Bruno Mars and Coldplay. And I thought those were two of the greatest shows that I’ve ever seen.
“So what I’m saying is, anybody has 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! I got love for both of them.”