During an appearance on The Breakfast Club, Stephen A. Smith once again clarified his recent comments about Rihanna and Beyoncé.
“Rihanna, if she had a problem that would have bothered me, not her fans,” he said at the 16-minute mark of the interview when asked if Dallas Cowboys fans, Skip Bayless fans, or Rihanna fans have given him the most grief. “I challenge anybody to tell me one negative thing I said about that wonderful performing young lady.” Smith went on to explain himself further, and said he wasn’t aware picking favorites would land him in hot water.
“Sherri Shepherd’s team—I [was] promoting my book last Tuesday—[her] team comes up to me and they said, since you're here we want to debate," he continued. "I said, 'Okay! Bring it, no problem.' I didn't know what they were gonna ask, right, but it's a show no problem. So I'm expecting a debate, right? ... I was just in the room talking about Beyoncé, because one of my all-time favorite performers is Beyoncé."
Smith continued, “One of my favorites, now obviously Dre… Dr. Dre and Snoop [Dogg] and them last year,” he said. “I mean, lord have mercy I’m mad I wasn’t there. But that’s… I think that Beyoncé might be the greatest female performer of all-time, that’s how I feel about her. I think Rihanna’s fantastic. Both of them got my money because I bought both albums, okay, so my attitude was; Rihanna’s great! But, I’m thinking you got a lot to live up to because there’s only one Beyoncé.”
Smith added that it’s fine if people agree or disagree with him, but he does not appreciate the accusation that he’s pitting two Black women against one another. “Really? I just can’t be a fan of both, but I prefer Beyoncé over Rihanna?” he asked. “That’s a crime? I didn’t know that!” Charlamagne highlighted to Smith that he got in trouble in the past for seemingly pitting Ayesha Curry against Savannah James, which he owned up to and said that was a “fair” thing to point out.
He later stressed he only made the comments because he believes that Beyoncé set the gold standard for Super Bowl performances, which leaves Rihanna with a lot to live up to.#
Smith experienced the backlash after he made the comments on Sherri Shepherd’s daytime talk show Sherri, during which the ESPN First Take personality was asked whether he was “excited” about Rihanna’s rightfully hyped-up performance at next month’s game. “She’s fantastic. That’s not where I’m going with this. Ladies and gentlemen, she’s a lot of things," he said. "She’s spectacular, actually. And congratulations on new-momma-hood. There’s one thing she’s not. She ain’t Beyoncé.”
Understandably, the moment prompted a reaction from many of Rihanna’s fans, prompting Smith to address the situation. “Rihanna, go do your thing. I apologize for creating whatever brouhaha comes of this,” Smith said in a video. “I gotta be more careful with people twisting and turning this into something it ain’t. My bad on that … Good luck, sweetie. I look forward to seeing you perform.”
Watch the full interview with Stephen A. Smith above.
