{
  "id": 15262248,
  "title": "‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pulls Val Chmerkovskiy After ‘Inappropriate’ Carrie Ann Inaba Slap Joke: ‘The Well-Being’ of Our Staff Is ‘Non-Negotiable’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/dancing-with-the-stars-pulls-val-chmerkovskiy-after-inappropriate",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-17T19:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Variety",
    "slug": "variety",
    "url": "https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/dancing-with-the-stars-pulls-val-chmerkovskiy-carrie-ann-inaba-slap-joke-1236915031/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy has been benched from “Dancing With the Stars” following a social media post involving judge Carrie Ann Inaba. According to TheWrap, Chmerkovskiy posted a TikTok story stating, “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” after Inaba criticized a rule-breaking lift performed by Chmerkovskiy's wife, Jenna Johnson, and her partner Harry Shum Jr. The comment was interpreted as a reference to Will Smith’s 2022 Oscars slap. Chmerkovskiy has since apologized to Inaba.\n\nVariety reports that BBC Studios issued a statement regarding the decision, noting that the social media post was inappropriate and did not reflect the values or standards expected of those connected with the show. The studio stated that the well-being of everyone working on the production is non-negotiable. Inaba responded to the incident on Instagram, asking, “So this is what we are doing now?”",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "TheWrap",
        "title": "‘DWTS’: Val Chmerkovskiy Apologizes to Carrie Ann Inaba for Will Smith Oscars Slap Reference",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/dwts-val-chmerkovskiy-apologizes-to-carrie-ann-inaba-for-will-smith",
        "published": "2026-10-16T18:22:38.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}