Val Chmerkovskiy Benched From Dancing With the Stars for One Week Over Will Smith Meme Post

Val Chmerkovskiy is sitting out a week of“Dancing With the Stars,”and the reason traces back to one social media post. The DWTS pro shared a TikTok that referenced Will Smith’s Oscars slap, and producer BBC Studios responded by benching him from next week’s episode, calling the post inappropriate and out of step with the show’s values. It’s a rare public discipline for a longtime pro on the show.

Val didn’t push back. He said his instinct was to defend his wife, and he referenced a meme without weighing what else it could imply. He apologized to judge Carrie Ann Inaba for getting caught in the middle, and he made clear he doesn’t want the situation to distract from Dedication Night or from his dance partner Jenna Dewan’s work. Fans are now split on whether the post justified a full week off.

The bigger takeaway is one we’ve all learned the hard way: memes carry baggage, and what’s funny in a group chat can hit very differently in public. For a show built on feel-good energy, that line matters. So what do you think: is one week on the bench the right call, or did the punishment go further than the post? Sound off below.