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DWTS Suspends Val Chmerkovskiy After Slap Joke
· Confirmed
In Short: Val Chmerkovskiy was suspended from Dancing with the Stars for a week after posting a controversial TikTok message.
Val Chmerkovskiy, a professional dancer on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, has been suspended from the show for a week following a controversial TikTok post.
Chmerkovskiy posted a comment on TikTok that was widely interpreted as a joke about potentially taking action similar to Will Smith's infamous slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.
The post, which read, 'You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,' was seen as a reference to Smith's aggressive behavior during the Oscars.
Chmerkovskiy later clarified that he did not intend to reference the slap, but rather a part of the incident where Smith yelled at Rock to 'keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.'
Despite his clarification, the post sparked a furious backlash, with many fans and media outlets interpreting it as a veiled threat against judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who had critiqued his wife, Jenna Johnson, during a recent episode.
Inaba posted about the incident on her Instagram, thanking media outlets for bringing it to her attention.
Chmerkovskiy quickly deleted the post and issued a public apology, stating, 'I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post. 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.'
The show's producers, BBC Studios, confirmed the suspension, stating, 'Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show.'
Chmerkovskiy's suspension marks the first time in the show's history that a professional dancer has been suspended.
Sources close to Chmerkovskiy told the Daily Mail that he would 'never do anything violent' and that he is 'a lover, not a fighter.'
Chmerkovskiy expressed his support for his partner Jenna Dewan, writing, 'I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!'
What's confirmed
- Chmerkovskiy, 40, faced a furious backlash for the post and publicly apologized, but BBC Studios confirmed Saturday that he will be off the series for one week, marking the first time in the history of the show that a pro has been suspended. 'The well-being of everyone who works on Dancing with the Stars is non-negotiable,' BBC Studios told Deadline. 'Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone connected with the show.
- After this Tuesday's episode, Chmerkovskiy shared a now-deleted post to his TikTok Story, joking: 'You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.' While he did not specify what he meant, many fans thought he was referring to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2023 Oscars after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
- When Smith slapped Rock at the Oscars in 2023, he screamed at the host: ' Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth!' Chmerkovskiy said in his new statement: 'Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was.
- “As you may have seen in the news, I won’t be in the ballroom this week,” he wrote.
- 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.
What's still developing
- The Fresh Prince comment referred, unintentionally or not, to the infamous 2022 Oscar-night moment when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face after the latter made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith.
- How can she speak to someone in a disrespectful manner with no repercussions?
- ABC has given a one-week suspension to Val Chmerkovskiy, the professional dancer who partners "The Rookie" star Jenna Dewan in the ABC competition's current season, TVLine has confirmed; he will not appear in the Tuesday, October 20 episode.
- Specifically, the dancer posted an apology to his Instagram Story on Saturday, suggesting that when he made the initial post his mind was on the bit from the incident where Smith yelled at Rock to keep his wife’s name out of his fucking mouth, and not, say, the part—which might, we feel moved to note, be the single most famous moment in modern Oscars history—when Smith stormed the stage and attempted to physically remove said name from Rock’s mouth through the application of an open-handed slap.
- The allusion to Will Smith’s infamous behavior at the 2022 Oscars was crystal clear—even if Chmerkovskiy has claimed that he wasn’t thinking about that part of Smith’s performance when he posted the video.
- By SAMEER SURI, US SENIOR SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER and LILLIAN GISSEN, US DEPUTY LIFESTYLE EDITOR Published: 17:04 EDT, 17 October 2026 | Updated: 18:18 EDT, 17 October 2026 Dancing with the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy has received a weeklong suspension from the series after he was accused of threatening to slap one of the show's judges, Carrie Ann Inaba, over his wife Jenna Johnson's low score.
- Chmerkovskiy's subsequent TikTok became a lightning rod of controversy, as many fans took to X to bash him. 'Um so either Val is insinuating that he wanted to slap Carrie Ann, throw her out or he’s just chose a random black show to characterize himself being aggressive,' one user wrote. 'Any of these options shows exactly what kind of person he is.' 'I definitely think he's trying to reference the Will Smith slap thing... it's gross on so many levels,' another added.
- Though Chmerkovskiy quickly took down the story, his comments had already started circulating and caught Inaba’s attention, sources said.
- BBC Studios issued a statement affirming that the well-being of everyone associated with the show is paramount and indicated that Chmerkovskiy’s remarks did not align with the values upheld by the production team.
- He expressed his commitment to support his dance partner’s performance during the upcoming “Dedication Night,” while sending well wishes to Inaba and the entire “Dancing with the Stars” family.
- Dewan and Chmerkovskiy have consistently scored well, rising to the top of the leaderboard during last week’s Super Bowl Night.
- “Jenna is a beloved part of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ family, and we are grateful for the joy and positivity she brings to the show.” During Season 34, Inaba opened up to Variety about the criticism and constant booing she receives in the ballroom — something the male judges, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, do not.