Val Chmerkovskiy has been suspended from Dancing With the Stars for one week following a controversial social media post referencing Will Smith’s infamous Oscars incident.
“The wellbeing of everyone who works on Dancing with the Stars is non-negotiable,’” read a statement from producer BBC Studios, per Deadline.
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“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 responded in a statement obtained by Page Six on Saturday.
“As you may have seen in the news, I won’t be in the ballroom this week,” he wrote.
Chmerkovskiy continued, stating that his “instinct” was to “defend” wife Jenna Johnson after judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s harsh critique of her performance on last week’s show, reportedly leaving her to cry it out backstage.
He subsequently “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,” Chmerkovskiy wrote.
“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,” he 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!!”
During Super Bowl Night of the beloved competition show, Inaba criticised Johnson for including a lift in her samba with actor Harry Shum Jr.
Inaba read from a sheet of paper that “a lift is any movement during which one of the dancers has both feet off the floor at the same time with the assistance or support of their partner”, with the audience falling uncomfortably silent.
Inaba also instructed Shum Jr to “put more content in [his] dances”.
Johnson later told DWTS host Julianne Hough she could “totally hear Carrie Ann. I will take it. Sure.”
Meanwhile, her husband Chmerkovskiy defended her on social media by referencing Smith’s infamous 2022 Oscars incident, in which he slapped comedian Chris Rock before he instructed him to keep wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s name out of his mouth.
“You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” he wrote in a since-deleted TikTok status, which was subsequently criticised by fans in the comments thread.
Beneath another TikTok video, Chmerkovskiy wrote, “Puts some respect on her name. Shes trippin talking to her like that.”
Meanwhile, Inaba took to Instagram to thank Page Six for alerting her to the situation, writing atop a screenshot of the coverage, “So this is what we are doing now?”
The dance pro previously apologised to Inaba via social media, writing on Instagram Stories earlier this week.
“I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologise directly and personally, and I also want to apologise publicly as I understand my words affect so many outside of our internal DWTS family,” he wrote in part.
“I recognise that l am in a fortunate position to have a platform and to be a role model to some, and I need to treat that with more care by actively pausing to think before I post to ensure what I am sharing aligns with who l am, and who I want to be for you all.”
He concluded, “I am truly sorry to Carrie Ann, and everyone who I hurt with my careless post. I will do better moving forward.”
This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission