Venus Williams reveals why Serena Williams agreed to crip walk during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show

Serena Williams performed the controversial crip walk dance to Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss track, Not Like Us.

Venus Williams reveals why Serena Williams agreed to crip walk during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show

Serena Williams, Venus Williams (Images via WTA/X)

Serena Williams made a surprising cameo during Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl LIX half-time show. She crip walked to Lamar’s Drake diss track Not Like Us which amused the fans inside Caesars Superdome but also sparked controversy.

Many thought Serena was using the platform to take a jibe at Drake, who she reportedly dated before she met her husband and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Serena has made it clear that her cameo to Drake’s nemesis, Lamar’s performance, had nothing to do with the Canadian rapper.

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Venus Williams, during a recent event in Denmark, made her feelings known about sister Serena’s this performance. She narrated the time she and her older sister Isha Price went to see Serena’s rehearsal and found the whole thing “so cool” because she “loves dance“.

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It doesn’t matter who you are. Kendrick didn’t even ask another artist, really. There were a couple, but basically, you don’t get a chance to perform at the Super Bowl. So the answer is always, ‘Absolutely! Right away! Where should I be?’ It had, in a lot of ways, nothing to do with anyone else—it was a once-in-a-never opportunity.

Venus Williams said during the event

Venus Williams recalls Serena Williams’ crip walk controversy at Wimbledon

Serena Williams had crip walked after winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The matches were played at Wimbledon and Serena defeated Maria Sharapova to take home the coveted medal. But her crip walk sparked controversy as the dance form originated in Compton, California, and was created by the members of the Crip gang.

Serena Williams (2)
Serena Williams (Image via NFL/X)

Serena’s dance was considered by the critics as a glorification of the gang culture. Venus Williams, during the aforementioned event, said the 23-time Singles Grand Slam champion’s dance at the Super Bowl was also a response to the critics.

I think for her, it was just about that and then obviously the history of when she did the walk for the first time, people were like ‘No it’s wrong’ and then she just got to walk all over the world and that was very powerful.

Venus Williams added

Serena retired from tennis at the 2022 US Open. Venus, who hasn’t played in WTA events since the 2024 Miami Open, is yet to hang up her racket. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion was recently offered the wild card by the Indian Wells organizers without her having any idea of it and ended up rejecting it.