Dancing With the Stars professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy has been defending his wife, fellow pro Jenna Johnson, online after judge Carrie Ann Inaba‘s criticism of her choreography during Tuesday’s Super Bowl Night. However, one social media post particularly caught the attention of fans: a TikTok Story where Chmerkovskiy wrote, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” a comment some believe is a reference to Will Smith infamously slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.
After Johnson and her celebrity partner Harry Shum Jr. performed a samba to Usher’s “Yeah!,” the judge told the mirrorball champion, “I think you need to put more content in your dances. Especially because [Harry’s] so good, I want to see you challenge yourself a little bit more in the vein of what we’re looking for. And there was a lift.” Johnson responded to Inaba’s comments by asking, “A lift?”
Inaba brought out a piece of paper with the definition of lift, which she read during the live episode: “A lift is — I just need to say it — any movement during which one of the dancers has both feet off the floor at the same time with the assistance or support of their partner. Yeah, lift.”
After the critiques, Shum Jr. and Johnson returned to the skybox, where they received their scores of 33/40; each mainstay judge (Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli) gave the duo an eight, while guest judge Joe Buck gave them a nine.
In a now viral TikTok video of Chmerkovskiy in the skybox behind Shum Jr. and Johnson while they received their scores, the three-time DWTS winner can be seen shaking his head while the judges (except Buck) delivered their eight scores.
Chmerkovskiy took to the comments of that video on Tuesday, writing, “Puts [sic] some respect on her name. Shes trippin talking to her like that.” The pro did not call out Inaba by name, but she is the only female judge on the panel.
Chmerkovskiy’s Fresh Prince TikTok Story was posted on Wednesday and had been live for six hours at the time of this story’s publication. One Reddit thread was flooded with theories that Chmerkovskiy’s post was “likely referring to when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a comment about his wife,” adding that they took his comment as he allegedly “wanted to slap Carrie Ann for telling Jenna to step it up.”
Smith walked onto the Oscars stage while Rock was hosting in 2022 after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, starring in a G.I. Jane sequel. “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!” Smith infamously yelled from the crowd after he returned to his seat following the slap.
One TikTok user screenshotted Chmerkovskiy’s TikTok Story and attached the photo on a comment of his most recent video shared on Wednesday, a post of himself and celebrity partner Jenna Dewan from Super Bowl Night, writing, “What do you mean by this.”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to ABC for comment. THR also reached out to Inaba and Chmerkovskiy’s respective reps, but did not hear back by the time of publication.