Onward and upward! Sean Spicer is focusing on the positive heading into season 28 of Dancing With the Stars, putting all the backlash behind him.
“Just doing something different is pretty much my goal here,” he told Us Weekly exclusively in a new interview. “I am a horrendous dancer, so I think to learn something new and be able to have fun while doing it is literally 90 percent of what I want to do.”
That said, the 47-year-old is well aware that not everyone was happy about his casting. While he wasn’t surprised, the disgraced former White House press secretary “didn’t expect it as quickly and as close as it was from internally,” he told Us.
After the casting announcement, host Tom Bergeron took to social media to reveal that he didn’t agree with the casting and had asked ABC to stay away from any political affiliation this season but clearly they had gone “in a different direction.” Additionally, Karamo Brown was criticized on social media after saying he was looking forward to getting to know Spicer.
“He and I had a really fun talk — not about politics, just about getting to know each other and how excited we are about that opportunity,” the politician said of the Queer Eye star. “That’s kind of been his trademark. He has tried to foster a more positive dialogue and he did it again and it was really great, but I felt bad because he was trying to be a good person. … He was obviously doing the right and good thing and he has the best intentions. We need more people like him as opposed to fewer. It was a shame that people were so nasty to him.”
While Spicer can’t reveal who his pro dancing partner is, he did admit she’s much younger than him and that they do not talk about politics. “I don’t intend to,” he told Us. “Everyone from the cast to the crew to the pros have just been really kind and friendly.”
Dancing With the Stars premieres on ABC Monday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Carly Sloane
