JAY-Z is known to be highly protective of his family and friends, and he apparently didn’t take kindly to Stephen A. Smith‘s controversial comments about his wife Beyoncé and Roc Nation signee Rihanna.
The ESPN personality stopped by the Connect the Dots podcast on Monday (March 4) and shared a story about Hov phoning him after he ignited a debate about Bey and RiRi’s respective talents.
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Smith began by recapping his initial statement, saying: “I love Rihanna. I bought her album, she gets my money. Mad love for her, wish her nothing but the best … But you do know there’s only one Beyoncé.”
The First Take host later revealed that unspecified “Hollywood stars” were mad at him for his remarks and that a few have never spoken to him since.
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He also said JAY-Z phoned him up shortly after the drama and gave him a light telling off for speaking out of turn.
“A month later, Hov and I were on the phone,” he shared. “Hov was like, ‘My dawg, you family, that’s family. That’s too close to say that.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know.’ He said, ‘I know.’ Done!
“In other words, it’s a business, it’s a part of it, you don’t know how she’ll receive it, etc. etc. etc. That’s all he had to say. I appreciated that.”
Stephen A. Smith’s initial comments came during a January 2023 appearance on The Sherri Show, where he threw shade at Rihanna ahead of her performance at Super Bowl LVII.
“There’s one thing she’s not, she ain’t Beyoncé,” he said, which was met with boos from the audience. “The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl.”
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RiRi later received an apology from the firebrand sportscaster.
“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,” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “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,” he continued. “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.”
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“Now, I’m a Beyoncé fan,” he added. “I think that Beyoncé is not only a phenomenal performer [but] the 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.
“So what I’m saying is, anybody has to measure up to that … I meant it as no disrespect to Rihanna. I know she’s phenomenal. And she’s my sister. Nothing but love for her. But Beyoncé is my sister too! I got love for both of them.”
