Dancing With the Stars lit up social media, and a war of words erupted between fans of the show over Jenna Johnson, Val Chmerkovskiy and Carrie Ann Inaba. It’s fast becoming one of the most divisive moments of Season 35 of the ABC show.
What Started It Off?
For three days now, DWTS fans have heard a progression of the new feud. It started when Carrie Ann criticized Jenna’s choreography on October 13 during Super Bowl Night. At the time, Inaba told Jenna after an illegal lift:
I think you need to put more content in your dances… I want to see you challenge yourself a little bit more in the vein of what we’re looking for.
Val Claps Back
Val hit back defending his wife of seven years and took to social media. Per Us Weekly, he wrote in a TikTok story, “Puts some respect on her name. Shes trippin talking to her like that.”
People picked up on it from there, noting that Val Chmerkovskiy escalated the row by sharing in a since-deleted post:
You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.
That was intually shared by Page Six, and Carrie Ann Inaba responded by thanking the outlet and writing, “So this is what we are doing now?”
An Apology Fueled The Fire
Of course, the reference to Will Smith was about the time when Will made headlines for slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Since then, E! News revealed Val’s apology on Instagram, and some Dancing with the Stars fans think it was genuine. Others suggest he only made it under pressure, and a sharp divide split fans as to whether it was necessary at all.
In his apology, he said, in part, “I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post.” Additionally, he said that he’d contacted Carrie Ann directly to apologize as well. But he ran into trouble because he understands that “my words affect so many outside of our internal DWTS family.”
And that’s what fired up fans of the show.
A Sharp Divide
Many people decided that Val had no reason to apologize at all. Team Val stepped up with comments like, “Why apologize?” “No need for an apology king,” and “Stand by your wife.”
Their argument was that Carrie Ann was rude, spiteful and deliberately hurtful to Jenna.
Others genuinely seemed shocked because they saw the Will Smith joke as a direct threat to a woman.
One angry commenter wrote, “violence against women is never funny. it was not a funny joke at all and val needed to apologize. carrie ann was right and yall need to chill with your misogyny.”
Others echoed that sentiment because, no matter what, folks saw something they interpreted as a threat. And one person seemed distressed, talking about how his actions reminded her of her own abuser.
A Bad Taste
While plenty of folks defended Jenna and criticized Carrie Ann, that didn’t necessarily mean they supported Val’s post. Carrie Ann isn’t exactly popular with some DWTS fans, who see her judging and comments as unnecessarily harsh.
But even some of those critics agreed that a veiled reference to violence against a woman left a bad taste.
A war of words also erupted under a separate thread in the comments about why folks defended Val Chmerkovskiy. One of them claimed that the guy is good-looking, so some people are more likely to forgive him, saying, “People are only defending Val because they find him atttactive (sic).”
Meanwhile, others speculated that Will Smith should step into the fray. That really would take the public debate a lot further. The commenter suggested:
“Now we’re waiting for Will Smith himself to react to what Val said.”
Meanwhile, others want to know where Carrie Ann Inaba’s apology is.
Certainly, it looks like this exchange between Val and Carrie Ann Inaba isn’t going to go away anytime soon. And with people constantly arriving in the comments to ask what happened, it’s only likely to keep brewing on social media pages.
Your thoughts? Join the discussion and then come back for more Dancing with the Stars cast news and updates.