Stephen A. Smith On Rihanna’s Upcoming Super Bowl Performance: “She Ain’t Beyoncé”

Stephen A. Smith has never been one to bite his tongue, most recently sharing his thoughts on Rihanna’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance while comparing her to another superstar.

“I don’t want to say I’m not excited, she’s fantastic, that’s not where I’m going with this,” he began on Sherri Wednesday while discussing the news of Riri hitting the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, she’s a lot of things, she’s spectacular actually — and congratulations on the new mama hood — there’s one thing she’s not, she ain’t Beyoncé.”

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The studio then erupted with mixed reactions, including some prominent boos from the audience.

“The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl, with and without Bruno Mars and Coldplay,” he went on.

Bey has performed for the Super Bowl halftime show twice, once with the aforementioned acts sharing the stage and another solo, though she did bring along her Destiny’s Child group mates, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, for that gig.

“Beyoncé performed, but she’s had her time,” host Sherri Shepherd responded, to applause. “Now there’s Rihanna, Rihanna’s coming back, she’s got that extra umph of motherhood, I like Rihanna.”

Smith went on to say he loves a lot of women in television, but “they ain’t Sherri. That’s not throwing shade on them.”

Members of The Navy took to The Shade Room’s comment section to call out the sports analyst for his comparison, including Bronx rapper Maliibu Miitch.

“No he did not fix them nasty creased , crusty , top lip being just as big as the bottom lip to shade our beloved Rihanna !!! Women just be minding their happy ass business and here comes a man who’s not even taller then us commenting on us!!,” she wrote, with another fan adding, “and his point was??? ??‍♀️… both of these women are on the same level of excellency‼️.”

Rihanna is set to perform for the NFL’s 57th Super Bowl, scheduled for February 12. Since announcing the gig, the island-born beauty has released a teaser for the half-time show and an NFL-inspired collection via Savage X Fenty.

Check out the clip below.

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