‘Dancing With the Stars’ pro apologizes for shocking comment about judge

Source Scout · PennLive / The Patriot-News reports: “Dancing With the Stars” pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy is apologizing for a controversial joke he made about judge Carrie Ann Inaba. “I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for my recent post,” Chmerkovskiy wrote via his Instagram Story on Thursday, Oct. 16. “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.” The drama began during the Oct. 13 episode of “DWTS,” when Inaba had a tense exchange with Chmerkovskiy’s wife, Jenna Johnson, who is also a pro dancer on the show.

WilluChill News DeskPublished Friday, October 16, 2026 at 3:06 PM UTCUpdated Friday, October 16, 2026 at 3:08 PM UTC

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