Stephen A. Smith isn’t backing down. 

After sparking backlash following his comments about Serena Williams’ surprise cameo alongside Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl halftime show the First Take host clarified his comments.

“Please go back and look at exactly what I said,” Stephen wrote in response to a critic on X, formerly, Twitter.  “I was talking overall from a man’s perspective—highlighting what most men would think. I didn’t utter a single disrespectful word about Serena. No issues with folks getting upset of literal serious stuff one’s pissed about. This doesn’t qualify peeps. Come on.”

Making sure the world knew it was in jest, the sports commentator added, “We were joking around on @FirstTake. Damn y’all! It’s not that serious.”

Serena surprised the world during the Super Bowl Feb. 9 when she appeared on stage doing the Crip Walk while Kendrick performed his Drake diss track, “Not Like Us.”