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Stephen A. Smith gave his take on Rihanna's upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance, and it isn't landing well with fans.
On Wednesday (January 18), Smith appeared on Sherri, Sherri Shepherd's daytime talk show, and was asked whether he was âexcitedâ about Rihanna's highly-anticipated halftime show at Super Bowl LVII on February 12.
âI donât wanna say Iâm not excited,â the ESPN personality said, per TMZ. âSheâs fantastic. Thatâs not where Iâm going with this. Ladies and gentlemen, sheâs a lot of things. Sheâs spectacular, actually. And congratulations on new-momma-hood. Thereâs one thing sheâs not. She ainât BeyoncĂ©.â
Smith elaborated on his contentious take, which garnered an audible reaction from the studio audience.
âHold on. ⊠The only reason I brought up BeyoncĂ© is because BeyoncĂ© recently performed at the Super Bowl, with and without Bruno Mars and Coldplay,â he said, referring to BeyoncĂ©âs past Super Bowl performances.
Shepherd pushed back on Smith's comments, noting that BeyoncĂ© has âhad her timeâ on the Super Bowl stage.
But the First Take host seemingly doubled down on his sentiments, comparing the situation to his thoughts on Shepherd's hosting.
"I like television," Smith said. "I like a lot of talent out there. There's some spectacular females in television, I just want to say that. Everybody ain't Sherri. That's not throwing shading on them. That's appreciating their greatness but understanding, there's levels!"
âRihannaâs music is fantastic,â he continued. âSheâs great. Sheâs a sister. I love her dearly. I listen to her music. Iâm gonna support her until the cows come home. Iâm just telling you: for me, thereâs BeyoncĂ© and thereâs everybody else. Just like there was Michael Jackson and thereâs everybody else.â
See how social media is reacting to Smith's take on Rihanna below.
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