The Navy was trying to get Stephen A. Smith up out of the paint.
This wasn’t a big deal, but Stephen A. learned what a lot of us have learned over the years; you better be careful at speaking about some of these musicians. Their fans are obsessed and ruthless.
Stephen A. was on Sheri Shepard’s talk show when he was asked if he was excited about Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Performance.
Here is what he had to say via TMZ Sports.
The ESPN personality made the comment during his appearance on “The Sherri Show” Wednesday … claiming it’s no shade to RiRi, but will most certainly come across that way with the singer’s diehard fanbase.
“Rihanna’s music is fantastic,” SAS said during the interview. “She’s great. She’s a sister. I love her dearly, I listen to her music, I’m gonna support her ’til the cows come home.”
“I’m just telling you, for me, there’s Beyoncé and there’s everybody else. Just like there’s Michael Jackson and there’s everybody else.”
Smith says he isn’t NOT excited to see Rihanna do her thing … but makes it clear there’s only room for one at the top.
“Ladies and gentlemen, [Rihanna is] a lot of things. She’s spectacular actually and congratulations on new mamahood. There’s one thing she’s not — she ain’t Beyoncé.”
Stephen A. should have just said he was excited and left it. This is a whole different audience than his First Take audience, and they reacted as such. He was getting slammed on social media.
He posted one apology video but took it down after taking a subtle shot at Rihanna fans.
In the second apology video, he said he knows people are using him as a headline, but he will apologize anyway. He told Rihanna he was sorry, it is unlikely she cares, but it is what it is.
Flip the page for the first comments from Stephen A. and the apology.