Serena Williams’ Super Bowl Cameo Explained: Surprise Appearance Was ‘Nasty Work’ From Kendrick Lamar

The tennis star’s “crip walking to a song about you being a pedophile has to hurt,” one fan says about the Drake diss

Serena Williams made a cameo during the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show (Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)
Serena Williams made a cameo during the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show (Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)

Kendrick Lamar doubled down on his beef with Drake by featuring not one but two of the rapper’s famous exes in his Super Bowl Halftime performance – SZA, and surprise guest Serena Williams.

In what has already been a whirlwind year for the rapper and his Grammy Award-winning diss track “Not Like Us,” Lamar decided to place the hit song on America’s biggest stage. It was already announced that SZA would appear and perform a couple of their duets, but Lamar surprised the audience with a cameo from tennis legend Serena Williams. 

Williams and Drake actually have their own history, having reportedly dated on-and-off from 2011 to 2015. Drake referenced Williams in his 2013 song “Worst Behavior,” and then again in 2022 when he called out her husband, Alexis Ohanian, in his song “Middle of the Ocean,” calling him a “groupie.” 

The tennis star did not return his volleys – but she did decide to perform alongside his foe, Lamar. The Lamar-Drake beef is explained in detail here, but the two rappers released back-to-back diss tracks at one another in the spring of 2024, with Lamar doubling down on allegations that Drake has sexual relationships with minors (and even got the entire Super Bowl arena and the Grammys audience to sing it along with him). 

The shared enemy may not have been the only reason Williams and Lamar teamed up for the performance. Both were born and raised in Compton, California. The tennis star paid homage to her hometown by crip walking to “Not Like Us.” Social media users online quickly clocked the dance move as the same one she got in trouble for at Wimbledon. Williams responded saying if she danced like that on the court she “would’ve been fined.”

Other fans online called the Williams’ cameo “nasty work” from Lamar. Another fan called it “chaotic good.”

Kendrick Lamar performs onstage during Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show at Caesars Superdome on February 09, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana
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Tess Patton

Tess joined TheWrap as the company’s first reporting fellow in 2024. Tess is from Birmingham, Alabama and attended the University of Southern California, graduating with degrees in theatre and journalism. She also served as the executive editor for Annenberg Media, closely overseeing coverage of campus protests amidst the Israel-Hamas War.

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