Pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy sparked controversy in the Dancing With the Stars fandom with an unsavory social media post pointed at Carrie Ann Inaba after her critique of wife Jenna Johnson.
After the show’s first-ever Super Bowl Night, Val posted a heated message targeting Carrie Ann by referencing Will Smith’s infamous 2022 Oscars slap.
For context, Carrie Ann called out Jenna for not incorporating enough Samba into the choreography. “If that was a halftime show, amazing. I loved it. I loved every minute of it. Don’t clap yet. It’s a Samba,” the judge continued before suggesting Jenna challenge herself more with the choreography.
Before wrapping up her critique, Carrie Ann also called out a “lift” in the dance, which Jenna appeared to question. Carrie Ann responded to Jenna’s pushback by reading the literal definition of what constitutes a lift in ballroom dancing.
Val wasn’t having it.
“You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” Val’s since-deleted TikTok status read, per a screenshot shared by a follower in the comments of a video he shared Wednesday featuring him and his celebrity partner, “Step Up” star Jenna Dewan.
Val took aim at Carrie Ann in the comments under a separate TikTok video. “Put some respect on her name. She’s trippin talking to her like that.”
Many fans of DWTS weren’t thrilled with Val insinuating that he wanted to hit a woman, while others respected him standing up for his wife.
