All those fan theories about Serena Williams’ Super Bowl LIX halftime show cameo appear to be wrong, according to the tennis legend herself.
The retired athlete, who crip-walked during Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” verse during Sunday’s big game, took part in the show simply because the rapper — who like Williams hails from Compton — asked her to.
“When @kendricklamar and team called and was like ‘we’ve been trying to do something forever, what about this? We loved your crip walk at the Olympics after you won the gold medal,’” Williams wrote Tuesday on Instagram.
“I’m like Super Bowl? Are you serious? When in the world would I ever be able to dance at a superbowl? (Never) let’s do it!” she said. “I knew my winning dance after the @olympics would pay off one day. End of story.”
During Lamar’s buzzed-about performance of “Not Like Us” on Sunday, the camera cut to his fellow Compton native doing the C-walk on an elevated platform placed on the field in New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome. Williams’ surprise appearance set the internet ablaze — much to the delight of those celebrating Lamar’s “petty” display and to the chagrin of one ESPN sports commentator who put her down for “trolling” her reported ex.
That all seemed to roll off Williams’ back. The Wyn Beauty co-founder accompanied her Instagram post with a behind-the-scenes video of her game-day prep and other snippets from the performance, which she referred to as “the best 10 seconds of my life.”
Williams, 43, took heat back in 2012 for that very footwork after besting Maria Sharapova for the gold medal during the London Olympics. She did it again at Wimbledon in 2023.
“Man I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon,” she joked in a separate video posted Sunday. “Oh, I would’ve been fined.”
Meanwhile, her husband — Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian — celebrated her performance and the meaning behind it.
“Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows. …,” Ohanian wrote Monday on X. “This is bigger than the music.” He included coverage of the backlash Williams faced then too.
Netizens were also quick to suggest that Lamar masterminded the athlete’s appearance as the latest coup in his simmering beef with Toronto rapper Drake.
The “God’s Plan” rapper, who has taken legal action against Universal Music Group regarding his portrayal in “Not Like Us,” was rumored to be romantically linked to Williams in the early 2010s, and he reportedly alluded to Williams in his songs “Worst Behavior” and “Nothings Into Somethings.”
Another of Drake’s exes, SZA, also joined Lamar onstage Sunday to sing “Luther” and “All of the Stars” with him.