Val Chmerkovskiy has been hit with a historic Dancing with the Stars suspension.
During a recent episode of DWTS Season 35, Judge Carrie Ann Inaba criticized the dance routine performed by Val’s wife, Jenna Johnson, and her partner, Harry Shun Jr.
This led to a major controversy as the professional dancer shared an offensive social media post, referencing Will Smith’s infamous 2022 Oscars slap to Chris Rock.
He wrote, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” seemingly referring to Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards after the comedian made a comment about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
His comment sparked massive outrage, forcing the reality TV show makers to take a strict action by pulling him from the show for one week, marking the first-ever pro suspension in DWTS history.
Taking to his Instagram Stories on Saturday, October 17, Val issued a statement, expressing regret over his action.
He wrote, “Hi everyone. As you may have seen in the news, I won't be in the ballroom this week. 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.”
“Carrie Ann certainly didn't deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was. 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,” continued the 40-year-old.
The Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer concluded, “Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole DWTS family lots of love during Dedication Night. I'll be watching and cheering everyone on!!”
Val Chmerkovskiy’s dance partner Jenna Dewan’s new partner for the week will be Alan Bersten, who was eliminated earlier this season.
