If there’s one thing Alexis Ohanian does not play about, it’s his family, particularly his wife Serena Williams. And most recently, Ohanian flexed his clapback skills on X, calling out social media users who had previously commented on his wife’s complexion.
After Williams posted some new family photos with their daughters Alexis Olympia and Adira River on X, Ohanian quote-tweeted the image, writing, “Where are all the comments from idiots who don’t understand how photography lighting works.”
His shady comment appears to be a direct response to the years of social media trolls who have accused the retired tennis champion of skin bleaching, an accusation Williams has also addressed in the past. As previously reported by theGrio, Williams took to Instagram live in 2024 to face the discourse head-on.
“For you haters out there, I do not bleach my skin. There is a thing called sunlight, and in that sunlight, you get different colors,” Williams said at the time, responding to the accusations that stemmed from a video she posted. “Yes, I’m calling you out on this because it is ridiculous. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, she bleached her skin.’ I’m a dark, Black woman, and I love who I am, and I love how I look.”
Now, this isn’t the first time Ohanian has come to his wife’s defense amidst social media discourse. Last year, after Williams went viral for making a cameo appearance in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime performance, Ohanian went viral for his avid advocacy for his wife.
While social media users and sports commentator Stephen A. Smith criticized Williams for crip walking to Lamar’s hit song “Not Like Us,” which also happened to be a diss track to her rumored ex Drake, the tennis legend’s husband wasted no time defending her on X.
“Pretty fantastic halftime show,” he wrote, going on to highlight the more profound significance of her cameo and reminding folks that Williams was once criticized for those same dance moves on the tennis court. “Some of y’all have no idea how criticized Serena was for this same dance at Wimbledon 13 years ago and it shows. This is bigger than the music.”
Then months later, he shocked fans when he confronted Smith, a very outspoken critic at the time, while appearing on his show “First Take.”
“I was hoping you were going to be here,” he said before Smith conceded, “Marriage advice? No, I’m not qualified.”
At that moment, Ohanian delivered a clapback that earned a virtual standing ovation on social media: “I was gonna ask, cause, you hadn’t been married before, right? Cause I give advice to plenty of founders who want to build billion-dollar companies. And the reason I do that is because I build billion-dollar companies, so I generally try to stay in my lane.”
