's has the internet talking. While her pregnancy reveal earned praises, some critics were quick to compare it to 's concert stunts when she was pregnant.
Even before the much-awaited "Rihanna concert," Stephen A. Smith made a controversial comparison between the two pop stars...
Shortly after the announcement that the was headlining this year's Super Bowl, Smith described Rihanna as "fantastic" and "spectacular."
However, he added: "There's one thing she's not: She ain't Beyoncé." Leslie Jones quickly responded to Smith's comments.
"Dude, no," she said while guest-hosting. "Why would you do this to yourself? You know what, Stephen A. Smith? You need to act like your hairline and back the f--- off!"Smith later apologized for his statement in a three-minute video. "Apologies to Rihanna for my words, gotta be more careful," he tweeted alongside the clip where he also said: "I'm gonna own it. I know what y'all trying to do, but I'm gonna own it because I get paid to speak for a living, so I need to be more careful."
He added: "I want Rihanna to know, you're a superstar, you're sensational, you're spectacular, you're no joke and you are a worthy person to be doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
" Jones called the apology "bad news.""How dare you call Rihanna 'sweetie,'" she said of the video. "You calling her 'sweetie' like you know her. She doesn't know you! But you know who she does know? Beyoncé."
In a recent interview, Rihanna spilled her prep details for the Super Bowl. "I watched Beyoncé’s halftime performances a couple of times," she said. "She is a beast and a whole other level. Just to be inspired, really." In before the show, the hitmaker said that she almost forgot her birthday because she was so focused on rehearsals.
"I've been so focused on the Super Bowl, I totally forgot that my birthday is coming up," she shared. "I totally forgot about Valentine's Day. I am just like Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. It's a lot of preparation, a lot of moving parts."
She also opened up about taking this opportunity just after giving birth to her first child. "It feels like it could have only been now," she said of the timing. "I mean, when I first got the call to do it again this year, I was like 'You sure? Like, I'm three months postpartum, should I be making major decisions like this right now? Like, I might regret this.
She continued: "When you become a mom there's something that just happens where you feel like you can take on the world, you can do anything and the Super Bowl is one of the biggest stages in the world, so as scary as that was because I haven't been on stage in seven years, there's something exhilarating about the challenge of it all. It's important for me to do this this year. It's important for representation. It's important for my son to see that."
After that subtle baby bump reveal, Rihanna's reps confirmed that she is pregnant with her second
One tweeted: "idc @rihanna perfomance was so bad, it gave me @Saweetie vibes ! And the whole pregnancy thing was just for us to accept how mediocre the show was. I've seen @Beyonce and @JLo perfoming while being pregnant and they were so good. Rihanna should just do something else, she's tired."
Rihanna's stans A.K.A The Navy were quick to defend her. "Pregnant or not Rihanna has never been a high energy performer like Beyoncé or Gaga and THATS FINE," one wrote.
Another one said: "No way the male species is comparing Rihanna and Beyoncé on a level of performing while pregnant… y'all are sick and funny as f--k. Y'all get up on stage while pregnant, sing on key, and complete 8 counts all at the same time…"
At the end of the day, Rihanna's show got a lot more views than Super Bowl LVII itself. Sounds like success to us.
