Happy Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day!
In honor of this month’s celebrations, I thought it was high time I post my thoughts on Serena Williams’ cameo in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime performance. I’ve been promising people on Instagram that I’d do this so I’m keeping my promise!
First off, I want to thank Kendrick Lamar for bringing such a powerful performance to an international stage that was very allegorical on the base level (drama with Drake) and on a civic level (political and social discourse).
I hate politics so I won’t focus on all the political symbolism unrelated to Serena Williams in this analysis. Unless I get enough people begging for it…
Short recap for those of you who are unaware of what went down (which isn’t many people since apparently more people watched this performance than the amount of viewers who watched the moon landing in 1969 😱):
- Drake and Serena Williams used to date
- Serena Williams was featured in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance for a few seconds doing the crip walk during “Not Like Us”
- A lot of
annoying idiotspeople were not happy after the performance (has anyone checked on Drake?)
Here are three thoughts on Serena Williams’ symbolism in this performance:
Serena Williams Symbolizes Women Who Don’t Need Permission
I don’t think I’ll ever stop laughing at Stephen A. Smith and his ridiculous self saying he would divorce Serena Williams if she were his wife for her cameo during Super Bowl halftime. And then Howard Stern jumped on the bandwagon to defend him! Absolute madness. My husband joked that Serena probably got a call from Kendrick about doing the cameo, agreed, and then casually told her husband, Alex Ohanian, she’d be dancing in the Super Bowl, to which he responded, ‘Wow, how cool babe! Can’t wait to see you on the stage!’ LIKE A NORMAL HUSBAND IN THE 21ST CENTURY WOULD DO. Instead Stephen A. Smith, single dad of two (I wonder whyyyyy 😏) has the nerve to say this nonsense. My guy, we don’t want you anyway! And Mrs. Stern, please watch your man, that’s wild. Also, kudos to Alex Ohanian for the response.
Let me make something clear. Women 👏🏽 Do 👏🏽 Not 👏🏽 Need 👏🏽 Men’s 👏🏽 Permission. PERIODT.
Serena Williams Represents Women Who Don’t Need to Apologize
Another unmarried man decided to make comments about Serena’s cameo. Sports columnist Jason Whitlock said she “deserved to be criticized and she should’ve immediately apologized.” He also went as far as saying what she did “was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church.”
Sir, please take Kendrick Lamar’s advice: “Be humble. Sit down.”
Like, I don’t understand how doing a dance on stage could make so many fragile men so angry. Jeez. During her time as a tennis player at Wimbledon, she was almost fined for doing the crip walk because it is considered “taunting” which is bad sportsmanship. My girl is a retired tennis player turned entrepreneur. If this is hurting your feelings then you might need to do some inner reflection. Stahp it. You’re embarrasing yourself. Nobody needs to apologize except YOU, Jason, for your foolish antics.
And for my most controversial thought yet…
Serena Williams is the Allegorial “Leopard Eating Faces“
Okay, hear me out:
- Blonde hair, like a leopard.
- Crip walk, which alludes to the Crips, a gang based in Southern California. Gang members sometimes turn on their own and commit acts of violence amongst themselves. She is also wearing blue, the official color of the gang.
- A lot of the people who are upset about her cameo fall under one or more of the following categories:
- Misogynistic Black men, who engage in what is known as misogynoir
- Female misogynists
- Racists who voted for Emperor Spray Tan and are now in disbelief over losing their jobs, paying $10 for a dozen eggs, and having the immigrant agricultural workforce disappear from work
I hope everyone takes note of this historic moment. Can’t wait to see this in a documentary hopefully soon.
Also, thanks Charm LaDonna ❤️
The Whisper Box 
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