Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian responds after being questioned for only having Black athletes in his new app

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, recently addressed a question about why his new app, Inner Circle, only features Black athletes. Ohanian developed a new app called Inner Circle which is designed for athletes.

Ohanian has been a long-time advocate for the advancement of women's sports. He has invested in Angel City F.C., a professional soccer team which competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), and has launched Athlos, a women-only track competition, among other projects

The entrepreneur recently took to social media to announce the launch of Inner Circle, a social network designed specifically for athletes . The app's unique feature is its zero-tolerance policy for hate and harassment, while also providing athletes with "weekly cash payouts."

Serena Williams' husband made the announcement for his app with the picture of four Black athletes.

“I built a social network designed for athletes — no hate/harassment tolerated — and generates revenue for athlete-creators from the start with weekly cash payouts every Sunday night and subscriptions for their biggest fans to join their InnerCircle (see what we did there?)," Ohanian posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Reacting to Alexis Ohanian's post, a social media user's inquired as to why there were only Black athletes in the app's promotional images.

“Why is it only black people?" the user asked.

In response, Alexis Ohanian explained that the four Black athletes featured were "early adopters" of Inner Circle.

“Because these 4 happened to be early adopters," Ohanian replied.

Among the athletes already on the app, are Gabby Thomas, Shamier Little, Natoya Goule-Toppin, and Alaysha Johnson.

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Before launching Inner Circle, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian co-founded the social networking site, Reddit

Alexis Ohanian pictured speaking at an event [Image Source: Getty Images]

Before launching his latest app, Inner Circle, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian began his career in the tech world by co-founding the social networking site Reddit. Ohanian, along with Aaron Swartz and Steve Huffman, started Reddit in 2005.

Ohanian was with the company from 2005 to 2010 when he left to pursue personal projects. He returned to the company in 2014 as the executive chairman and finally resigned in 2020. A year later, he started his venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six (776).

Recently, the tech entrepreneur took to social media and shared how he used to promot Reddit in its early days. He revealed that he would spray paint the site's mascot, Snoo, on the walls of the popular video game Half-Life 2.

Ohanian also shared that he used to engage with players in the game's chat rooms, encouraging them to check out Reddit

“In the early days of Reddit, and I’m talking 2005. First year, I made a custom spray that I used in Half-Life 2 to spray on the walls a Snoo while playing and tell people in the chat, “Check out reddit.com,”” Serena Williams' husband said.

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian first daughter, Olympia Ohanian, was born on September 1, 2017. They got married two months later on November 16, 2017 in New Orleans. Their youngest daughter, Adira River Ohanian, was born in August 2023.