Carrie Ann Inaba reportedly felt threatened by Val Chmerkovskiy’s Will Smith joke. She took her concerns to DWTS HR, according to sources.
Val Chmerkovskiy’s joke reportedly leaves Carrie Ann feeling threatened
Carrie Ann Inaba did not brush off Val Chmerkovskiy’s Will Smith joke, as per TMZ. She reportedly told show officials she felt threatened by the DWTS pro.
She was so heated that she raised the issue with the HR department at BBC, which produces DWTS. She demanded that someone do something about it.
Another version of the story differs. It says BBC launched the investigation after seeing the joke. That version would not confirm whether Inaba complained.
Production reportedly told Val it had to follow its guidelines and protocols. It then suspended him for one episode. BBC Studios has confirmed that Val will miss the next live episode, Dedication Night.
The drama started on the October 13 episode, when Inaba criticized Val’s wife, Jenna Johnson, for including a lift in her routine with Harry Shum Jr. Val fired back on social media. He joked that viewers almost saw the “Fresh Prince” enter the ballroom. That line referenced Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Inaba answered on Instagram with “So this is what we are doing now?”
Val later apologized to Inaba publicly and reached out to her directly, but the suspension went ahead. Alan Bersten is stepping in to dance with Val’s partner, Jenna Dewan.
Val has plenty of support from his colleagues. Rumors that he unfollowed Inaba, Alan Bersten and Emma Slater are reportedly bogus because he never followed them in the first place.
It is still unclear whether Val will get paid for the episode he is missing.
