Leslie Jones, Stephen A. Smith. Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo; Gilbert Flores / Getty
Leslie Jones ripped Stephen A. Smith a new one after he shared his unfavorable opinion about Rihanna’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance. While hosting The Daily Show, Jones dug into Smith’s apology to Rihanna after the Navy bashed him.
“Dude, no!!” Jones screamed at the camera. “Why would you do this to yourself? You know what, Stephen A. Smith? You need to act like your hairline and back the f*** off!”
After showing the apology, Jones continued to slam him some more.
“How dare you call Rihanna sweetie!” Jones added. “You calling her sweetie like you know her. She don’t know you. But you know who she does know: Beyoncé! And neither one of these ladies needs your opinion, sweetie.”
Stephen A. Smith Shared If He Was Looking Forward To Rihanna’s Performance On Sherri
While on Sherri, Smith took a jab at Rih’s performance skills after Sherri Shepherd asked if she was looking forward to her Super Bowl performance.
“I don’t want to say I’m not excited,” he said. “She’s fantastic…There’s one thing she’s not. She ain’t Beyoncé.” After a not-so-nice response from the audience, he explained why he brought up Queen Bey.
“The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl,” Smith added.
The ESPN commentator received so much backlash that he had to issue an apology in a video shared via social media.
“I’m gonna own it. I know what y’all trying to do, but I’m gonna own it because I get paid to speak for a living, so I need to be more careful,” he said. “I want Rihanna to know, you’re a superstar, you’re sensational, you’re spectacular, you’re no joke and you are a worthy person to be doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show.”
Stephen A. Smith explained that he apologized because he didn’t want it to seem like he was “pitting one Black woman against another.”
