“Dancing with the Stars” is pulling pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy from this week’s show after comments he made to judge Carrie Ann Inaba. It will be suspended for a week.
Earlier this week, the dancer posted on TikTok referring to Will Smith’s famous Oscars 2022 slap in response to her criticism of his wife, Jenna Johnson, who is also a pro dancer on the ABC reality show.
“The success of everyone who works on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is non-negotiable. Val’s post on social media was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone associated with the show,” BBC Studios said in a statement on Saturday. “As a result, he will not participate in next week’s show.”
Following the news of the ban, Chmerkovskiy shared a statement with the media.
“In a moment where I had the instinct to protect my wife, I made the unfortunate decision to mention a meme to “keep my wife’s name; out of the conversation, without stopping to think what else that comment might have meant, which was really not my intention,” he said. “Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to be caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was.”
He continued: “The last thing I want is a distraction from an important week or the amazing work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in. Please send lots of love to Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the entire DWTS family during Inauguration Night. I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!”
More to come…