DWTS’ Val Chmerkovskiy Addresses Rumors He Unfollowed Alan Bersten

And Chmerkovskiy has been in step with Team Bersten since it was first announced he would be taking over, with a source telling E! News that he “fully trusts Alan to manage this week and is grateful that he’s stepped in.”

The three-time Mirrorball champ was suspended for one week from DWTS after alluding to the infamous Oscars moment between Will Smith and ChrisRock on his TikTok status followingan awkward interaction between his wife JennaJohnson and judge Carrie Ann Inaba on the Oct. 13 episode.

However, Chmerkovskiy noted that he was only referring to Smith telling Rock to “keep my wife’s name out your f–king mouth,” and not the slap that followed. 

“As you may have seen in the news, I won’t be in the ballroom this week,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories Oct. 17. “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.”

“Carrie Ann certainly didn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of my bad judgment, and I hate that she was,” the 40-year-old continued. “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.”

For a look at all the stars hoping to dance their way to the famed Mirrorball, keep reading.