Carrie Ann Inaba is speaking out after Val Chmerkovskiy was benched from Dedication Night on Dancing With the Stars season 35.
“Looking forward to a heartfelt night of dedications,” Inaba, 58, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, October 20, alongside a black-and-white photo of the DWTS ballroom floor.
In the caption, she added, “Always and forever team Dancing with the Stars❤️🪩. #TEAMDWTS.”
News broke on Saturday, October 17, that Chmerkovskiy, 40, was sitting out the upcoming Dedication Night episode after making a controversial remark toward Inaba. Days earlier, the longtime DWTS judge called out Chmerkovskiy’s wife and fellow pro, Jenna Johnson, for a lift during her Super Bowl Night performance with Harry Shum Jr.
“You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” Chmerkovskiy wrote in a social media post, which was later deleted, referring to Will Smith’s outburst at the 2022 Oscars.
Chmerkovskiy later issued a public apology via his Instagram Story on Thursday, October 15.
“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 our internal DWTS family. I should never have made the reference that I did and I deeply regret it.”
He continued, “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.”
Chmerkovskiy promised he “will do better moving forward,” calling the comment “careless.”
Amid the ongoing discourse online, a spokesperson for BBC Studios confirmed Chmerkovskiy would not participate in Dedication Night, noting, “Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show.”
Chmerkovskiy subsequently addressed the decision. “Hi everyone. As you may have seen in the news, I won’t be in the ballroom this week,” he shared via his Instagram Story on Saturday. “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 ballroom pro insisted he didn’t want to be a “distraction” from Jenna Dewan‘s performance honoring her mom, Nancy. (Alan Bersten is stepping in to dance in Chmerkovskiy’s place.)
“Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was. … Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna and the whole DWTS family lots of love during Dedication Night,” he concluded. “I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
