‘Dancing With the Stars’ pulls Val Chmerkovskiy from October 20 episode over slap reference

BBC Studios has pulled professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy from the Oct. 20 Dedication Night episode of “Dancing With the Stars” after a deleted TikTok Story that appeared to reference Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

The post and the fallout

During the Oct. 13 episode, judge Carrie Ann Inaba criticized Jenna Johnson’s samba with Harry Shum Jr. and called out a lift. Chmerkovskiy, who is married to Johnson, later wrote, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.” BBC Studios that the post was “inappropriate” and did not reflect the standards expected of people connected with the show.