“Dancing with the Stars” pro Val Chmerkovskiy and judge Carrie Ann Inaba have made amends, ending the cliffhanger saga that resulted in Chmerkovskiy being removed from the competition after making an “inappropriate” joke about Inaba earlier this month.
On Tuesday night’s episode of the dance competition series, Chmerkovskiy returned to the ballroom following a week-long break from the show. The show’s decision to temporarily remove him from the competition was made after Chmerkovskiy posted on his TikTok story, “You almost saw the Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” after his wife, Jenna Johnson, was criticized by Inaba during the Oct. 13 episode of the show. The TikTok was interpreted as a reference to Will Smith’s infamous slap at the 2022 Oscars and was deemed “inappropriate” by BBC Studios.
While last week’s episode didn’t address Chmerkovskiy’s absence, when Val returned this week, viewers saw the pro apologize to his partner Jenna Dewan. In their pre-dance package, Chmerkovskiy said, “We’re reunited. I’m so sorry for all this chaos. You didn’t agree with it and I feel terrible,” to which Dewan responded: “I forgive you… I miss you.”
After Tuesday’s show, Chmerkovskiy and Inaba hugged each other, which was captured on social media. “It was felt [like] a soothing relief, you know?” Chmerkovskiy told People About talking to Inaba. “I think it was really important for me to make sure he felt safe and knew firsthand that I wanted nothing but love for him.”
He continued: “I want nothing but joy for her, and even though the world says otherwise, I want her to know how I feel, how I truly feel, not how others want me to feel. I will have nothing but love for Carrie Ann. I will have nothing but respect for what she has to say.”
Earlier Tuesday, Inaba posted a lengthy statement on Instagram about the saga. “I haven’t talked about what happened out of professional courtesy I show to those who are still competing, and in fact we have standards and practices that set us apart,” Inaba began.
“But I think some of this ‘thread’ misses a few important parts of what’s going on,” Inaba continued. “I think it’s important for everyone to know that Jenna and I hugged each other after the Super Bowl performance. Jenna was a total professional about it, and two women worked for the moment. It then came to my attention that Jenna was deeply hurt, so I offered to talk to her anytime. I also offered to discuss the lift rule and how I enforced it. @sharnaburgess made a great video explaining lifts, assists, and which dances do and don’t allow them.”
“In the future, I think a new lifting rule should be created for next season,” he concluded. “It’s important for me to work together to create better understanding between the dancers, the judges, and our audience moving forward, and that’s something I want, too.”