Val Chmerkovskiy is fighting his way through his “Dancing with the Stars” suspension.
“Val will be watching the show at home tomorrow night,” a source close to the production exclusively told Page Six.
“The suspension took Val by surprise, but he took it graciously and he understood. He is fully hopeful that he will be back for the live shows next week.”
The professional dancer got into trouble himself after a controversial social media post where he criticized show judge Carrie Ann Inaba for harshly criticizing his wife, fellow pro Jenna Johnson, on-air.
“You almost saw the Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” Chmerkovskiy posted on social media.
Chmerkovskiy quickly deleted the post, which was a reference to the time Will Smith slammed Chris Rock for talking about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith on stage at the 2022 Oscars, but the damage was done.
An additional production source explained how much Chmerkovskiy is loved, considering he has danced on the hit ABC reality series for 15 years.
“He’s always been the golden child of that show and the franchise,” the source said. “The show felt like they had to do it.”
Chmerkovskiy again apologized publicly to Inaba on social media, saying he would “do a better job moving forward”, but this was not enough.
A statement from producers BBC Productions said, “The well-being of everyone working on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ cannot be compromised.” “Val’s social media post was inappropriate and does not reflect the values or standards expected of anyone associated with the show. As a result, he will not be participating in next week’s show.”
It was announced on the show that Alan Bernstein would step in to dance with Chmerkovskiy’s partner Jenna Dewan in Chmerkovskiy’s absence.
“Val has sent Jenna a lot of support [Dewan] Between everything that’s going on and she knows she and Alan are going to crush it this week,” the first source said. “She’s grateful to Alan for stepping in.”
Chmerkovskiy released another statement addressing his sentencing the next day.
It read, “Carrie Ann definitely didn’t deserve to be stuck in the middle of my bad decisions and I hate her.” “The last thing I want is to be a distraction from an important week or the incredible job that my dance partner Jenna Dewan is doing.”
Page Six can confirm that Inaba went to HR to complain about the pro dancer’s comment.
Inaba, Chmerkovskiy and ABC’s reps did not respond to Page Six’s request for comment.