Do not adjust your television screens. That was Serena Williams dancing during Kendrick Lamar's halftime show at the 2025 Super Bowl.
We were told to expect a surprise guest during Lamar's set, and we know better by now than to think it's going to be Beyoncé. It was, in fact, another GOAT, Williams, who showed up on the halftime stage. First, the show featured an appearance by Samuel L. Jackson as “Uncle Sam,” who occasionally interjected to jokingly ask Lamar to keep the show “calm.”
Here's how long you have to wait until you get to see Not Like Us live.
Should we be reading into this white-on-white look, Taylor?
But then, Lamar started playing “Not Like Us,” his Grammy-winning diss track about Drake. The camera at one point panned to show Serena Williams in a pleated blue mini skirt and matching jacket, C-walking to the song. For those who may have forgotten, Williams and Drake were rumoured to have dated in the 2010s. In fact, per Page Six, Drake even admitted that his song “Too Good” was about the tennis player. And then, in 2022, he included a jab at the tennis player in “Middle of the Ocean.” So, this was a major moment in more ways than one.
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Reactions on the internet prove that the impact of Williams's cameo was not missed by anyone. Wrote one Twitter-user, “kendrick getting serena williams to crip walk while performing not like us is nasty work.” Another agreed, “Serena Williams crip walking to a song about you being a pedophile has to hurt existentially.” Even Congressman Malcolm Kenyatta weighed in, “The Serena Williams cameo was diabolical.”
But perhaps the best reaction came from Williams herself, who tweeted a video of herself immediately after the show. “Man, I did not crip walk like that at Wimbeldon,” she said. “Ooh, I would have been fiiiiiiiiined.”
Luckily, this is the Super Bowl, not Wimbeldon, and that C-walk was possibly the best thing to happen on that field all night. (According to some people, that is.)
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR (US).
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