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Stephen A. Smith says there were a lot of stars in Hollywood who weren't happy when he compared Rihanna to Beyoncé including JAY-Z.
On Monday, March 4, the host of "First Take" made an appearance on the Connect The Dots podcast where he opened up about the phone call he received from Hov amid the backlash he faced from the viral comparison. Smith said the call happened a month after the Internet chewed him up and spit him out for comparing Rih to Bey.
“Hov was like, Simple and plain my dawg, you family, that’s family. That’s too close to say that,'" Smith explained. "I said, ‘I didn’t know.’ He said, ‘I know.’ Done!"
“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," he continued. "That’s all he had to say. I appreciated that.”
For the unfamiliar, Smith had the Navy and the BeyHive in an uproar last year. During his appearance on Sherri, the multihyphenated sports journalists compared the "Lift Me Up" singer to Beyoncé ahead of her 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance.
“There’s one thing she’s not, she ain’t Beyoncé,” Smith said before he received a chorus of boos from fans. “The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl.”
Not long after the clip of his opinion went viral, Smith released an apologetic video in which he took responsibility for his words. He also provided a more in-depth explanation of his stance on both superstars.
“Rihanna, go do your thing," Smith said at the time. "I apologize for creating whatever brouhaha comes of this. I gotta be more careful where people twist it and turn it into something it ain’t. My bad on that."
Look out for the full episode of Connect The Dots featuring Stephen A. Smith coming soon.