Val Chmerkovskiy has been pulled down from the upcoming episode of Dancing With The Stars after he posted a controversial TikTok message seemingly referencing the infamous Will Smith’s 2022 Oscar slap.
Taking to his Instagram Story, Chmerkovskiy announced his one-week suspension and called the controversial post “an instinct to defend my wife”.
“I won’t be seen in the ballroom this week,” Chmerkovskiy wrote on October 17.
“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,” the professional ballroom dancer added.
Calling his earlier post “bad judgement”, Chmerkovskiy, 40, continued, “Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgement, and I hate that she was.”
The pro went on to highlight his dance partner, Jenna Dewan’s hardwork and wrote, “The last thing I want is to become a distraction from an important week or from the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in.”
“Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole DTWS family lots of love during Dedication Night. I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!,” he concluded.
Dewan’s new dance partner for the week will be Alan Bersten, who was eliminated earlier this season.
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Chmerkovskiy’s post came after his original post resulted in his suspension and drew critique from Carie Ann Inaba.
The post in-question read, “You almost saw the Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.”
The now-deleted post was seemingly a reference to the 2022 Oscar-night moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face after the latter made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
Rock made a distasteful joke about Jada’s shaved head comparing her appearance to Demi Moore’s character in the 1997 film G.I. Jane, earning an eye roll from the latter, who has been vocal about her battle with alopecia.
Chmerkovskiy’s post was believed to be a similar reference to Smith’s action.
The controversy brewed a day after the first episode “Super Bowl Night,” during which judge Inaba criticised the performance of Chmerkovskiy’s wife, DWTS dance pro Jenna Johnson.
Producer BBC Studios, in a statement, called the post “inappropriate”, and said, “The well-being of everyone who works on Dancing with the Stars is non-negotiable. 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.”
Chmerkovskiy, later, apologized to Inaba, 58, for his “careless post” and said that he “would be doing better going forward”.