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 Beyoncé,” 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.”