Serena Williams On Whether Her Super Bowl Crip Walk Was Shade to Drake (2025)

It has been two months since Kendrick Lamar delivered one of the most iconic and shadiest Super Bowl performances, which had folks talking for weeks and crowned him the winner of his rap beef with Drake. Serena Williams took part, and her crip walk during “Not Like Us” went viral. Everybody and I mean everybody considered it a slight against her former boo, Drake.

But hold on... her dance to the diss track wasn’t shade to Drake? At least, that’s what Williams is claiming now.

Let us explain. In an interview with Time magazine for its 100 Most Influential People 2025 issue, Williams cleared up the speculation that her appearance at the Super Bowl was shade at the “Marvin’s Room” rapper.

“Absolutely not. I would never do that. And that was sad that anyone could ever think that. I respect how they could. Obviously I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not.”

While Williams swears to the Marvel Gods that her appearance at the show was absolutely not a diss to Drake, folks online are not so convinced.

“This you??” One X user came with receipts of Williams dissing Drake with the same crip walk at The 2024 ESPY Awards, an awards show produced by ESPN. Not only does she do the crip walk, but she also mentions Drake by name. “The next time Drake sits courtside at a Raptors game, they’re going to Forrest Gump him. This seat’s taken.” And then she crip walks again.

“Girl you literally did it during a Drake diss song.. you knew exactly what you were doing and what people would think lol,” another X user wrote.

“Oh girl please, you should’ve stood on business,” another user added.

Not only did the Tennis star double down on her claim that she was not dissing Drake, she also added that she has “never had negative feelings towards him.” And while a lot of folks didn’t believe this either, some users applauded and defended Serena for keeping it “classy.”

One X user commented in the replies, “Serena keeping it classy, as always. We love to see it!”

“It’s all love. People don’t understand that you can do something for another reason than what they think is the reason,” another user added.

And some people just want to move on from this drama entirely.