Stephen A. Smith says Jay-Z called his line to address comments he made comparing Rihanna to Beyonce.
Smith was not a fan of Riri’s Super Bowl LVII Halftime performance.
“There’s one thing she’s not, she ain’t Beyonce,” he said at the time. “The only reason I brought up Beyonce is because Beyonce recently performed at the Super Bowl.”
Stephen A Smith said celebs and industry people stopped talking to him after he was on TV debating about Rihanna and Beyonce until Jay-Z gave him a call. pic.twitter.com/ZgLk7sC8WF
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) March 5, 2024
Smith eventually apologized for the comments.
“I love Rihanna. I bought her album, she gets my money. Mad love for her, wish her nothing but the best. But you do know there’s only one BeyoncĂ©,” he said this week.
Smith says a lot of people were upset by his comments, even celebrities.
“A month later, Hov and I were on the phone. Hov was like, ‘My dawg, you family, that’s family. That’s too close to say that.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know.’ He said, ‘I know.’ Done!,” Smith said. “In other words, it’s a business, it’s a part of it, you don’t know how she’ll receive it, etc. etc. etc. That’s all he had to say. I appreciated that.”