Serena Williams stunned Super Bowl viewers on Sunday night when she joined Kendrick Lamar on the field at the Superdome in New Orleans.
The tennis icon danced during the halftime show, which also featured SZA and Samuel L. Jackson. Of course, Williams was romantically involved with Drake back in the day, whom Lamar has been locked in a bitter feud with in the past year.
His hit song, “Not Like Us” (which he performed tonight), takes plenty of shots at Drake, including accusations of pedophilia and a second child. So, having Williams dancing out on the field with Lamar is a bit of a big deal.
Williams appeared briefly during Lamar’s performance, honoring their shared Compton, Calif. heritage.
In a tweet celebrating her performance, Williams posted a video showing off her halftime outfit and wrote, “Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!”
And so did plenty of people on X. The site was blowing up with reactions to Lamar’s halftime show and William’s brief, yet impactful, role in it.
“KENDRICK BROUGHT SERENA WILLIAMS ON STAGE OMGGG,” one wrote.
Another tweeted, “KENDRICK GOT SERENA WILLIAMS DANCING WHILE PLAYING THEY NOT LIKE US…”
One fan wrote of Lamar, “he really said ‘say drake’ and smiled straight at the camera…. and then brought out serena williams. HE’S SICK IN THE HEAD.”
Lamar packed plenty of punch into his show tonight. Along with his performance of “Not Like Us,” he also featured a bit of another Drake diss track, “Euphoria,” as well as his hits “All of the Stars,” “Squabble Up,” “Humble” and “DNA.”
It seemed like Lamar wouldn’t play “Not Like Us” initially. He rapped, “Ladies / I wanna make a move / I wanna perform they favorite song / But you know they love to sue,” but later launched into a modified version of the track, rapping, “Certified Lover Boy, certified…” but did not say the lyric “pedophile” as it appears in the original song.
Super Bowl LIX is airing tonight, Feb. 9, on FOX, FOX Deportes, NFL+ and Tubi.
