Stephen A. Smith Apologizes to Rihanna Over ‘She Ain’t Beyoncé’ Statement

Rihanna’s Navy is all over Stephen A. Smith after he stated, “She ain’t Beyoncé” when talking about his excitement for Rihanna’s upcoming Super Bowl performance.

Stephen A. was a guest on Sherri Sheppard’s The Sherri Show. While Stephen A. is looking forward to Rih’s perforamnce, he made it clear that he didn’t think she could touch Beyoncé.

“I don’t wanna say I’m not excited,” Stephen A. said. “She’s fantastic. That’s not where I’m going with this. Ladies and gentlemen, she’s a lot of things. She’s spectacular, actually. And congratulations on new-momma-hood. There’s one thing she’s not. She ain’t Beyoncé.”

With the clip going viral, Stephen A. Smith hit Instagram to offer an apology.

“I just got out of First Take and I saw some headline that’s circulating all over the place about my quote that Rihanna ain’t Beyoncé. See, I’m gonna own it. I know what y’all tryna do but I’m gon’ own it because I get paid to speak for a living so I need to be more careful.

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. Having said all of that, I was answering a question from Sherri Shepherd, who took over the Wendy Williams Show, and now got her own thing going, and I’m very proud of her. And she asked me with a bunch of sisters in the audience what she asked me.

Now I’m a Beyoncé fan. I think that Beyoncé is not only a phenomenal performer, thee phenomenal performer. And the only reason any kind of comparison came into play is because Beyoncé performed at halftime at the Super Bowl not just by herself but one separate Super Bowl performance with Bruno Mars and Coldplay. And I thought those were two of the greatest shows that I’ve ever seen.”

Stephen A. offers a bit more but closes the video with, “Rihanna, go do your thing. 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.”

You can hear it all from Stephen A. below.