Val Chmerkovskiy reprized his role within the Dancing with the stars the cast of season 35 following their one-episode suspension after appearing to allude to Will Smith’s infamous Oscar slap while commenting on Carrie Ann Inaba’s judgment of his wife, Jenna Johnson, The Hollywood Reporter learned.
Chmerkovskiy is back in rehearsals starting today and will make his return to the ballroom with next week’s horror-centric episode.
And he’s set to finish out the rest of the season alongside his celebrity partner, Jenna Dewan. The professional dancer did not perform on Tuesday’s Dedication Night and Dewan instead performed with Alan Bersten.
Dancing with the stars the production company BBC Studios and ABC did not respond THRrequest for comment.
Dewan and Bersten earned a 37/40 rating last episode for their Viennese waltz to the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” performed in honor of the Intensify the star’s mother.
Chmerkovskiy’s absence Dancing with the stars was lightly touched upon during Dedication Night, with co-host Alfonso Ribeiro simply saying at the top of the episode, “Val’s not with us this week.” During Dewan’s video package before her performance, a timestamp was shown for Friday evening, as the actress and Bersten discussed her replacement with no mention of Chmerkovskiy or the controversy. No footage of Chmerkovskiy and Dewan rehearsing was released.
BBC Studios announced on Saturday that Chmerkovskiy had been suspended for one episode, sharing in a statement: “The well-being of everyone who works on Dancing with the stars is not negotiable. Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected to the show. As a result, he will not participate in next week’s show.
He sparked controversy for an allusion he made to Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars while defending his wife, fellow pro Johnson, following Inaba’s comments during the Super Bowl Night episode. “You almost saw Fresh Prince walk into the ballroom last night,” Chmerkovskiy wrote in a TikTok Story posted last Wednesday.
After Johnson and partner Harry Shum Jr. performed a samba to “Yeah!” Johnson responded to Inaba’s comments by asking, “A lift?
Inaba responded to Chmerkovskiy’s Fresh Prince remarks on Instagram on Thursday, writing, “So this is what we do now?” by sharing a screenshot of a Page six post containing the dancer’s comment, alongside a shared image of Smith and Chmerkovskiy.
Chmerkovskiy later apologized to Dancing with the stars judge in a statement on Instagram Thursday. He wrote, in part, “I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent message. I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologize directly and personally, and I also want to apologize publicly as I understand that my words affect so many people outside of our internal. DWTS family. I should never have made the reference I did and I deeply regret it.
Chmerkovskiy also released a statement regarding his hiatus from the Dancing with the stars Ballroom for Dedication Night, writing: “At a time when my instinct was to defend my wife, I made the poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without thinking about what else that reference might imply, which was truly never my intention. Carrie Ann certainly did not deserve to be caught in the middle of my poor judgment, and I hate that she was.”
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