Serena Williams Regrets DOING THIS At The Super BOWL!

Serena Williams Regrets DOING THIS At The Super BOWL!

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance was epic – filled with power, symbolism, and nods to Black culture, including a cameo performance by tennis GOAT Serena Williams. As Williams c-walked on stage to the viral Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” internet chatter began, calling Williams’s appearance a personal dig at Drake, whom she dated in 2015. But the real story has less to do with the certified lover boy and a lot to do with Wimbledon. The truth: Williams was nodding to her heavily criticized 2012 Olympics celebration, held on Wimbledon grass, where she marked the win by c-walking on the court. (The crip walk, or c-walk, is associated with the Crips, a California street gang, but it has been adopted by many West Coast rappers and come to represent LA culture.) After performing with Lamar, Williams jokingly addressed the 2012 debacle: “I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon, I would’ve been fined,” she said in a video posted on X. I remember that moment – how all of Los Angeles erupted because it was an acknowledgment of where she came from, but also a cultural nod to the Black experience in Los Angeles, Watts, Long Beach, and Compton, where Serena was raised. That said, the celebration also sparked a ton of outrage and critique, as many dubbed the dance disrespectful to the sport. But Williams stood her ground then and continues to do so today. “First of all. It was just a dance,” she replied when asked about the choice to c-walk on Wimbledon grass over a decade ago. “I didn’t know that’s what it was called. Second, why are you asking me that? If anything, you should be trying to ask me questions to lift me not bring such things … I’m done with that question.”

Oshay Duke Jackson