Val Chmerkovskiy‘s suspension from Dancing with the Stars has taken another turn. New details shed light on what led the show to take action after the professional dancer made a controversial social media post referencing judge Carrie Ann Inaba. The controversy also involves his wife, Jenna Johnson, and a since-deleted TikTok post.
According to PEOPLE, Chmerkovskiy’s suspension stemmed from his TikTok post, not an HR complaint from Inaba. The dancer missed the Tuesday, Oct. 20, episode. The post followed Inaba’s criticism of Johnson’s performance on Oct. 13. BBC Studios, which produces the show, launched an internal investigation after the post appeared.
In the deleted post, Chmerkovskiy referenced the 2022 Oscars incident involving Will Smith and Chris Rock. Smith slapped Rock while defending his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, after Rock made a joke about her hair. Chmerkovskiy wrote that fans “almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom” after Inaba’s comments about Johnson. The reference raised concerns and led to further action from the show’s production team.
Chmerkovskiy addressed the controversy in a statement on Oct. 17, explaining why he made the post. He said his “instinct was to defend my wife” but admitted that he made “a poor decision” by referencing a meme. He added that he wanted to “keep my wife’s name” out of the conversation but failed to consider what else the reference could suggest. He stressed that those implications were “genuinely never my intention.”
The dancer had also apologized publicly to Inaba on Oct. 15, after contacting her privately. He also asked fans to send love to Inaba, Jenna Dewan and the entire DWTS family during Dedication Night. With Chmerkovskiy absent, eliminated professional dancer Alan Bersten partnered with Dewan for a Viennese waltz. Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+ and streams the following day on Hulu.