Stephen A. Smith Apologizes To Rihanna For Beyoncé Comparison Comment

Stephen A. Smith is doubling down on his shady comment toward Rihanna. The ESPN analyst was under fire Wednesday when his comment comparing RiRi to Beyoncé went viral. He made the comment during his appearance on Sherri Shepherd’s daytime talk show.

"There’s one thing she’s not, she ain’t Beyoncé," said Smith. He prefaced the comment by calling RiRi "spectacular" and congratulating her on becoming a new mom.

Smith tried to justify it, too. "The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl."

After the harsh backlash from social media, he apologized to the "Diamonds" singer in a three-minute apology video that he uploaded to Twitter.

"Apologies to Rihanna for my words, gotta be more careful."

"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 said in the video. "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."

In the video, Smith added that he is a die-hard Beyoncé fan and that her solo appearance in 2013 and her 2016 appearance with Bruno Mars and Coldplay were the best Super Bowl Halftime performances he's seen thus far.

Rihanna is set to take the stage on Feb. 12 for the Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show which will be held in Glendale, AZ.

Rihanna has been announced as the 2023 Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime performer. The Super Bowl will be held on February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The singer and beauty mogul broke the internet when she teased fans on Sunday (Sept. 25) before the NFL made the official announcement that she would be the Halftime performer.  She posted her hand holding an NFL-branded football against a white backdrop. The superstar captioned the photo with a simple period, "."

After the NFL confirmed that Rihanna would be 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show performer, they changed their bio to "national fenty league" and tagged her Instagram account. RiRi also got a shoutout from Jay-Z who signed the Bajan singer in 2005 when he was the president of Def Jam.

"Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn," Jay-Z, who previously signed a deal with the NFL to head the league's musical entertainment, said in a statement. "A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment."

However, what has yet to be announced is if the "We Found Love" singer will be joined on stage by any fellow artists. Last year, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar performed during the Super Bowl Halftime show with a special appearance from 50 Cent. Dr. Dre also brought out Anderson .Paak who performed on the drums. 50 and .Paak were great additions to the originally billed artists' performances.

When asked about advice he has for Rihanna ahead of the gig, Dre told PEOPLE, "Put the right people around you, and have fun."

"That's basically what it is, making sure you have the right creative people around you," he continued, adding, "She might want to look into some of the people that we used to do our show."

So, with that being said, we conjured up a list of some potential guests that RiRi should consider bringing on stage with her.

Take a look at some potential artists RiRi could perform with below: