Serena Williams has addressed rumors that she dissed her ex-boyfriend, Drake, at the 2025 Super Bowl.
The tennis superstar appeared in the 2025 issue of Time's Most Influential People of the year where she was asked directly if she threw shade at Drake while appearing during Kendrick Lamar's set.
"Absolutely not," Williams insisted.
"I would never do that. And that was sad, that anyone would ever think that. I respect how they could. Obviously I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not. I have never had negative feelings towards him. We've known him for so many years," Williams added.
The sports star came out of a tunnel at the Super Bowl in New Orleans as Lamar was performing his Drake diss track, "Not Like Us."
Williams took a spot near Lamar during the performance and crip walked briefly as Lamar dissed Drake. At the time, many believed this to be a diss toward Drake given that Williams appeared during the diss song and that she and Drake have a past romantic connection, having reportedly dated on and off from 2011 to 2015.
not serena williams c walking with kendrick at the super bowl 💀 pic.twitter.com/g2H3ENVpUx
— Brownies & Lemonade🍫🍋 (@TeamBandL) February 10, 2025
In 2024, Drake and Lamar exchanged a series of diss tracks toward one another with "Not Like Us" being the most successful of them. Since then, the song has become the center of a lawsuit between Drake and Universal Music Group, with Drake's filing revealing that the label released the song to strategically damage Drake's reputation.
However, UMG has denied any wrongdoing in the case with UMG dismissing the lawsuit as an attempt by Drake to mitigate the fallout from their rap battle. The case is currently headed toward trial.
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