After performing the Crip Walk during Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl time present, Serena Williams has sparked controversy. Critics have questioned whether she disrespected Yetunde Price, a part of the Crip group who was killed by her in 2003.
Williams, 43, was seen dancing to Lamar’s struck” Not Like Us” during the present, which took place at New Orleans ‘ Caesars Superdome. Her presence soon drew focus, as she executed the personal footwork associated with the Crips, a gang with strong ties to Compton, California—the equal city where her sister was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Yetunde Price, the oldest half-sister of Serena and Venus Williams, was shot and killed on September 14, 2003, in Compton. Robert Maxfield, a well-known Crip crew member, opened fire on Price, who was also a personal assistant to the Williams sisters and a caregiver. She was only 31 years older. Maxfield was afterwards found guilty of deliberate homicide and given a 15-year prison term.
Williams ‘ Super Bowl performance received mixed reviews, with some applauding her involvement in Lamar’s high-energy set and some decrying her for what they perceived as a careless move. The Crip Walk, or C-Walk, has long been associated with the Los Angeles-based group, making her decision mainly questionable given her mother’s past with gang crime.
American journalist Jason Whitlock called Serena a” clown” on his” Fearless” podcast and yelled at her.
Speaking about her looks, Williams revealed that Lamar physically invited her to meet the performance. What about this when @kendricklamar and the group called and said,” We’ve been trying to do something always, please?” We adored your Olympic Crip Walk after you won the gold medal, she wrote. ” I’m like Super Bowl? Are you significant? When will it ever be possible for me to waltz during a Super Bowl? ( Never ) let’s do it”!
After defeating Maria Sharapova in the 2012 London Olympics, which had also drawn censure at the time, Williams had recently performed the Crip Walk. Reflecting on her Super Bowl look, she joked,” Man, I did not Crip Move like that at Wimbledon. Oh, I would’ve been fined”.
However, no all saw it as humorous. Sports experts and users of social media pointed out the nervous connection between her sister’s murder and her dance. One ESPN critic accused Williams of” trolling” her reported father, Drake, who was the goal of Lamar’s trash track” No Like Us”. People, however, believed Williams was just celebrating her Taylor origins and supporting Lamar, another Compton local, in a career-defining instant.
