Professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy suspended from 'Dancing With the Stars' after controversial social media post

ABC confirmed that professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy will miss the upcoming "Dedication Night" episode of "Dancing With the Stars" following a social-media post that referenced the 2022 Oscars incident involving Will Smith. The network's production company, BBC Studios, said the dancer's comment was "inappropriate" and did not align with the show's standards, and therefore he will not appear in next week's broadcast.

The issue arose after judge Carrie Ann Inaba criticized Chmerkovskiy's wife, fellow dancer Jenna Johnson, and her celebrity partner Harry Shum Jr. for a lift in their samba routine during the "Super Bowl Night" episode. In a TikTok post, Chmerkovskiy wrote, "You almost saw the Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night," which was interpreted as a reference to Smith's slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. The post was later deleted.

"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," Chmerkovskiy said on Instagram Stories.

"Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was," he added.

Chmerkovskiy also expressed that he did not want the controversy to distract from the competition or his celebrity partner Jenna Dewan, who will temporarily dance with pro Alan Bersten for the episode.

The suspension is noted as the first known disciplinary action against a professional dancer on the series.