Alexis Ohanian is slyly firing back at Stephen A. Smith after the ESPN commentator blasted his wife, Serena Williams, for her cameo during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Feb. 9.
Williams, 43, showed up for Kendrick Lamar’s mid-game performance at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The tennis legend’s appearance at the big game was perceived to be a clapback at 38-year-old hip-hop star Drake.
Romance rumors about Drake and Serena began around 2011, but the A-listers never publicly confirmed being an item. They apparently fell out by the time Williams married Ohanian, 41, in 2017.
Drake has mentioned the sports icon on multiple tracks. For example, the Canadian dissed Ohanian on the 2022 song “Middle of the Ocean” where he raps, “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie.”
On the day “Middle of the Ocean” dropped, Ohanian tweeted, “The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do — including being the best groupie for my wife and daughter.”
Williams’ crip-walking dance at Super Bowl LIX took place while Lamar, 37, performed his chart-topping Drake diss record “Not Like Us” leading to the speculation that the former No. 1 ranked female tennis player in the world retaliated against Drizzy.
Smith, 57, took issue with Williams for supposedly using the biggest stage in entertainment to shade her ex-boyfriend. The Winston-Salem State University graduate essentially accused Serena of disrespecting her husband.
“If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex, go back to his ass. Because clearly, you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for and you with me?” Smith said on the Feb. 10 episode of the “First Take” television show.
After facing backlash for his comments about Williams, Smith addressed his “First Take” remarks on social media. One X poster told the unmarried New York City native to “keep quiet” about the 23-time Grand Slam champion which ignited a response.
“Please go back and look at exactly what I said. I was talking overall from a man’s perspective — highlighting what most men would think,” Smith tweeted on Feb. 11.
He added, “I didn’t utter a single disrespectful word about Serena. No issues with folks getting upset [about] literal serious stuff one’s pissed about. This doesn’t qualify peeps. Come on. We were joking around on @FirstTake. Damn y’all! It’s not that serious.”
Smith’s reply to that specific critic did not stop others from weighing in on what he said about Williams and Ohanian’s marriage. The following day, another X user had choice words for the NBA analyst.
“Stephen is such a weirdo. Divorce? Serena Williams is married to an Armenian from Brooklyn who wore a DARE t-shirt to a tennis match against her dope-shooting opponent. He probably helped her stretch before the performance. A petty prince,” the Ohanian ally posted.
In 2019, Ohanian rocked a Drug Abuse Resistance Education shirt for Williams’ U.S. Open match against her tennis rival Maria Sharapova, 37. Three years earlier, Sharapova had received a two-year ban over a doping scandal, before the suspension was reduced to 15 months.
Ohanian decided to reply to the tweet by stating, “Armenian men: we’re a little extreme when it comes to family.”
The co-founder and former executive chairman of Reddit got more backed up on X. One sympathetic fan proclaimed, “Damn right, protect that Queen!”
A second supporter also praised Ohanian, tweeting, “Standing on home business, we see ya.” Similarly, another person expressed, “Damn right, protect the fam at all cost.”
Ohanian’s trolling of Sharapova did not go unnoticed either. One of his enthusiastic backers tweeted, “I like how he doesn’t deny the reason for the shirt lol.”
Williams and Ohanian first met in 2015. The pair hung out together in Paris during Serena’s championship-winning run during that year’s French Open tournament.
Ohanian proposed to Williams in December 2016. The internet entrepreneur flew his then-future bride to Rome for the special moment. Williams announced their engagement on Reddit.
The celebrity couple welcomed their first daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., on Sept. 1, 2017, prior to tying the knot on Nov. 16, 2017, in New Orleans. A second daughter named Adira River Ohanian arrived on Aug. 22, 2023.
Despite breakup rumors floating on the internet for months, Williams and Ohanian acknowledged the seventh anniversary of their wedding in separate November 2024-dated posts on Instagram.
“[Seven] years has gone so fast… Happy anniversary @alexisohanian thank you for being the best dad to our girls @olympiaohanian and @adiraohanian,” Williams voiced on the social media platform.
The Compton, California, representative concluded her Instagram carousel caption with, “Thanks for also making average November day a costume party and making it special.”
In his own celebratory Instagram post, Ohanian wrote, “[Seven] years ago today, we got married here. Now we get to bring these two for beignets. Happy Anniversary 🎉 Thanks for giving me the two greatest humans we’ve ever met. You’re an amazing mama. I’m very lucky to have met you.”
