Dancing with the Stars has pulled Val Chmerkovskiy from Tuesday’s show after a since-deleted TikTok post about judge Carrie Ann Inaba, and Jenna Dewan will dance Dedication Night with Alan Bersten instead.
BBC Studios, which produces the ABC competition series, announced the one-week suspension on Saturday. “The well-being of everyone who works on Dancing with the Stars is non-negotiable,” the studio said. “Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show. As a result, he will not participate in next week’s show.”
How A Judge’s Critique Turned Into A Suspension
It started on the October 13 episode, the show’s first Super Bowl Night. Inaba knocked Chmerkovskiy’s wife, Jenna Johnson, for putting a lift into her routine with Harry Shum Jr., then read the definition of a lift on air.
Chmerkovskiy then posted on TikTok, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.” The line was widely taken as a nod to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. The post has since been deleted, but Inaba saw it. On Thursday, she shared photos of Chmerkovskiy and Smith on Instagram with the caption, “So this is what we are doing now?”
Chmerkovskiy apologized on his Instagram Story that same day, saying he had reached out to Inaba directly and wanted to apologize publicly as well. After the suspension came down, he released a second statement. “In a moment where my instinct was to defend my wife, I made a poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without stopping to think through what else that reference could imply, which was genuinely never my intention,” he said. “Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was.”
He added that he did not want to become “a distraction from an important week.” “Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole DWTS family lots of love during Dedication Night,” he wrote. “I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!”
Jenna Dewan Will Still Dance
Variety reports Dewan will be paired for the week with Bersten, who was eliminated earlier this season, for a Viennese waltz to “Unchained Melody” dedicated to her mother.
Dedication Night is the sixth week of Season 35, with each of the remaining couples performing a routine for someone who shaped their lives. Julia Stiles is set to honor her late co-star Heath Ledger that night. The episode airs Tuesday, October 20, from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, live on ABC and Disney+, and streams the next day on Hulu.
A pro on the show since Season 13 in 2011, Chmerkovskiy is suspended for this one episode.
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