‘Dancing With the Stars’ Is Apparently Going to “Briefly” Address Val’s Controversy With Carrie Ann

ABCKey PointsVal Chmerkovskiy was suspended from performing after making seemingly violent comments toward judge Carrie Ann Inaba in defense of his wife Jenna Johnson, who faced rulebook violation allegations.The controversy erupted when Carrie Ann flagged a potentially illegal lift in Jenna and Harry Shum Jr.’s Super Bowl Night routine, prompting Val’s since-deleted inflammatory TikTok response.DWTS reportedly plans to briefly acknowledge the drama during Dedication Night, while Alan Bersten temporarily replaces Val as Jenna’s dance partner.Dancing With the Stars is reportedly going to “briefly” address all that behind-the-scenes drama between pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy and longtime judge Carrie Ann Inaba ahead of Dedication Night.

After a week of controversy, The Sun’s sources claim Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough “will bring it up briefly” and “not go into details of what happened” while reminding viewers that Alan Bersten is temporarily filling in for Val.

DWTS insiders also added that Carrie Ann will receive a shoutout and also be “given an opportunity to speak if she chooses to.”

“She may say a few words but she didn’t want to get too deep into all of it live on air,” they added. “It’s been really emotional and difficult for her.”

The report hasn’t been confirmed by ABC or DWTS producers, but it comes after Val was suspended for seemingly violent comments he made toward Carrie Ann in defense of his wife, Jenna Johnson.

Carrie Ann alleged that Jenna and her partner, Harry Shum Jr., had violated the DWTS rulebook with a lift during their Super Bowl Night samba routine on October 13. Val then posted a since-deleted TikTok status referencing Will Smith’s infamous slap at the 2022 Oscars, writing, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.”

A few days later, Val publicly apologized to Carrie Ann for his behavior with a statement posted to his Instagram Stories on October 16.

“I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post,” he wrote. “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. I should have never made the reference that I did and I deeply regret it.”

He continued, “I recognize that l am in a fortunate position to have a platform and to be a role model to some, and I need to treat that with more care by actively pausing to think before I post to ensure what I am sharing aligns with who l am, and who I want to be for you all. I am truly sorry to Carrie Ann, and everyone who I hurt with my careless post. I will do better moving forward.”

Val was then suspended from performing with his partner, Jenna Dewan, for Dedication Night. She will be taking the stage with Alan Bersten as his stand-in until further notice.

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