Val Chmerkovskiy has issued a public apology for his Will Smith Oscar slap comment directed at Carrie Ann Inaba. If you missed this whole mess, Carrie Ann gave Val’s wife Jenna Johnson a pretty harsh critique during Tuesday night’s show. In response, Val posted a since-deleted TikTok referencing the slap, saying “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.”
Carrie Ann then responded with this:
And Val has since hopped on Instagram with a formal apology.
“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.”
Carrie Ann hasn’t responded to the apology just yet, but next week’s show should be interesting...