Val Chmerkovskiy
ON THE RECORD · 5 verbatim quotes · every quote source-verified
“Please send Carrie Ann, Jenna, and the whole ‘DWTS’ family lots of love during Dedication Night. I’ll be watching and cheering everyone on!!”
Val Chmerkovskiy · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-18
Chmerkovskiy asked fans to support Carrie Ann Inaba, Jenna Dewan, and the DWTS cast during Dedication Night, saying he would be watching and cheering from the sidelines.
“Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was,”
Val Chmerkovskiy · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-18
Chmerkovskiy expressed regret that Carrie Ann Inaba was caught in the middle of his bad judgment.
“You almost saw the Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night.”
Val Chmerkovskiy · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-18
Chmerkovskiy posted the comment on TikTok defending his wife Jenna Johnson after Carrie Ann Inaba criticized her routine, widely viewed as referencing Will Smith's Oscars slap.
“The last thing I want is to become a distraction from an important week or from the incredible work my dance partner Jenna Dewan is putting in,”
Val Chmerkovskiy · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-18
Chmerkovskiy wrote that he did not want the controversy to distract from his dance partner Jenna Dewan's work during Dedication Night.
“In a moment where my instinct was to defend my wife, I made a poor decision to reference a meme to ‘keep my wife’s name’ out of the conversation, without stopping to think through what else that reference could imply, which was genuinely never my intention,”
Val Chmerkovskiy · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-18
Chmerkovskiy apologized on his Instagram Stories after deleting the TikTok post referencing the Will Smith slap meme.