Val Chmerkovskiy will not be in the ballroom on Tuesday. BBC Studios, the production company behind Dancing With the Stars, has benched the longtime pro for one week after his since-deleted TikTok post appeared to reference Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars — a joke aimed, however clumsily, at judge Carrie Ann Inaba.
“The well-being of everyone who works on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is non-negotiable,” the producer said in a statement issued Saturday. “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.”
The suspension covers Dedication Night, the episode airing October 20, and it lands at a rough moment for Chmerkovskiy competitively. He and his celebrity partner, actress Jenna Dewan, had climbed to the top of the leaderboard during the show’s first Super Bowl Night. Now he will watch that episode from home.
How a Judge’s Critique Turned Into a Controversy
The trouble started on the October 13 episode, the show’s Super Bowl Night. Chmerkovskiy’s wife, fellow pro Jenna Johnson, danced a samba to Usher’s “Yeah!” with her celebrity partner, Harry Shum Jr. After the performance, Inaba delivered a pointed critique.
“I think you need to put more content in your dances,” she told the mirrorball champion. “Especially because [Harry’s] so good, I want to see you challenge yourself a little bit more in the vein of what we’re looking for. And there was a lift.”
Johnson pushed back with a question — “A lift?” — and Inaba answered by producing a piece of paper and reading the definition aloud during the live broadcast: “A lift is — I just need to say it — 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. Yeah, lift.”
For Chmerkovskiy, watching his wife get a rules lecture on live television was apparently one step too far. The next day, he posted to his TikTok story: “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.”
The Fresh Prince Post, and What It Implied
The reference was hard to miss. “Fresh Prince” pointed straight at Will Smith, who walked onto the Oscars stage in 2022 and slapped presenter Chris Rock after Rock joked about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith — moments after Smith shouted from his seat, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
Chmerkovskiy’s post was live for at least six hours before he deleted it, but by then it had already been screenshotted and dissected. On Reddit, users traded theories that the dancer was suggesting he had wanted to slap Inaba for telling Johnson to step up her game. Whether he intended that reading or not, the implication was the story.
Inaba saw it too. On Thursday, she responded on Instagram with a post that reshared a screenshot of the comment alongside a split image of Smith and Chmerkovskiy, writing: “So this is what we are doing now?” In the text, she thanked the press outlets — the New York Post and Entertainment Weekly, per Deadline — for bringing the remark to her attention.
The Apology Came First
Before the suspension was announced, Chmerkovskiy tried to contain the damage. On Thursday, he posted an apology on his Instagram story addressed to Inaba and to viewers he had upset.
“I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post,” he wrote. “I have reached out to Carrie Ann to apologize directly and personally, and I also want to apologize publicly as I understand my words affect so many outside of our internal DWTS family. I should have never made the reference that I did and I deeply regret it. I recognize that I 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 I am, and who I want to be for you all.”
It did not stop the producer from acting. When the suspension was announced Saturday, Chmerkovskiy issued a follow-up statement acknowledging what he called a “poor decision.”
“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 wrote. “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 the last thing he wanted was to become “a distraction from an important week or from the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in,” and asked fans to send love to Inaba, Johnson and the whole show family during Dedication Night. “I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!”
Jenna Dewan Dances On — With a New Partner
The suspension removes Chmerkovskiy from the competition for a week, but it does not remove his partner. Dewan will still perform on Dedication Night, paired for the episode with pro Alan Bersten, who was eliminated earlier this season after competing with celebrity partner Giada De Laurentiis.
She has a meaningful dance ahead of her: a Viennese waltz to “Unchained Melody,” dedicated to her mother. According to Variety, a source close to the show said Dewan “is aware and has continued to be a true professional and respectful of the process,” calling her “a beloved part of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ family.”
That professionalism matters this week more than most. Dewan and Chmerkovskiy had been one of season 35’s strongest pairings, and a mid-season partner swap — even a temporary one — is the kind of disruption that can derail a run at the mirrorball trophy.
Chmerkovskiy’s Long History With the Show
The suspension is notable partly because of who is receiving it. Chmerkovskiy has been part of Dancing With the Stars since its second season, making him one of the franchise’s most established pros and a two-time mirrorball winner alongside his wife Johnson. A one-week benching from BBC Studios, with a public statement about values and standards, is a serious rebuke for a dancer of his tenure.
It also lands on a judge who has been candid about the toll of ballroom criticism. During season 34, Inaba told Variety about the booing and negativity she receives — treatment she noted the male judges, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, do not face.
“It used to really affect me,” she said at the time. “I have been targeted with this kind of negativity since the show began, back when we had chat rooms. I remember seeing some horrible words written about me, and I was shocked. Sometimes the things they say are cruel, and that has affected me. It’s made me scared.”
Whether Chmerkovskiy returns to the ballroom the following week, and how the audience greets both him and Inaba when he does, will say a lot about how quickly this episode fades — or doesn’t.
FAQ
Why was Val Chmerkovskiy suspended from Dancing With the Stars?
BBC Studios suspended him for one week after he posted a since-deleted TikTok saying “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” a reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. The post came after judge Carrie Ann Inaba critiqued a lift in a dance by Chmerkovskiy’s wife, pro Jenna Johnson, on the October 13 Super Bowl Night episode. The producer called the post inappropriate and said he would not participate in the next week’s show.
Who is dancing with Jenna Dewan while Val Chmerkovskiy is suspended?
Dewan will dance with pro Alan Bersten, who was eliminated earlier in season 35 after competing with Giada De Laurentiis. Dewan is performing a Viennese waltz to “Unchained Melody” on Dedication Night, dedicated to her mother.
Did Val Chmerkovskiy apologize to Carrie Ann Inaba?
Yes. He posted an apology on his Instagram story on Thursday, saying he had reached out to Inaba directly and personally, and apologized again in a statement after the suspension was announced, calling his post a “poor decision” and saying Inaba “didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle” of his bad judgment.
When does Dancing With the Stars return after the suspension?
The Dedication Night episode affected by the suspension airs October 20, with Dewan dancing alongside Bersten. The sources do not confirm beyond that episode whether Chmerkovskiy returns the following week.