Val Apologizes to Carrie Ann for Will Smiths Oscars Slap Reference

Key Points:

• Dancing With the Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy apologized to judge Carrie Ann Inaba for a TikTok Story post referencing Will Smith’s 2022 Oscars slap, calling the comment “careless” and expressing regret for the impact of his words.
• The apology came after backlash over Chmerkovskiy’s comment “You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” which many interpreted as implying he wanted to slap Inaba following her critique of his wife Jenna Johnson’s samba performance.
• Inaba publicly responded to the comment with a critical Instagram post, highlighting the inappropriate nature of the reference amid the ongoing controversy.
• The incident occurred after Inaba gave constructive feedback on Johnson’s samba with Harry Shum Jr., specifically encouraging more challenging content and clarifying the definition of a “lift” during the live show.
• Chmerkovskiy acknowledged his responsibility as a public figure and promised to be more thoughtful in his future social media posts, having also reached out to Inaba personally to apologize.