Okay, so things got weird on Dancing With the Stars this week – and I mean weird even by DWTS standards, which is saying something. Val Chmerkovskiy made a joke about slapping Carrie Ann Inaba, Will Smith-style. Inaba did not find it funny. And honestly? Fair enough.

Wait, He Said WHAT?

So here’s what happened. Tuesday night was Super Bowl Night on the show, and Inaba apparently wasn’t thrilled with some of the choreography from Jenna Johnson, who happens to be Chmerkovskiy’s wife. Judges critique dances. That’s literally the job. But Val, 40, didn’t love it, and he took to TikTok (in a video that’s since been deleted, which, come on, we all know that means something) to defend Jenna.

“You almost saw Fresh Prince enter the ballroom last night,” he wrote. For anyone who’s been living under a rock since 2022 – that’s a reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. You remember. Everyone remembers. It was basically the “where were you when” moment of that whole awards season.

And Carrie Ann Wasn’t Having It

Inaba, 58, clapped back pretty quickly. “So this is what we are doing now?” she asked. Short. Pointed. No long explanation needed, honestly, because what IS there to explain? A guy joked about physically slapping a 58-year-old woman because she critiqued a dance. On a dance competition show. Where critiquing dances is, again, the entire point of her job.

Look, I get defending your spouse. That’s sweet, actually – in theory. We’ve all seen partners go to bat for each other online and it can be genuinely touching. But invoking the Will Smith Oscars slap? That’s not “defending your wife.” That’s just… a bad joke that landed exactly as badly as you’d expect.

This Isn’t Even the First Round of Drama

Before the slap comment, Val was already out there “defending” Jenna after what’s being called a “lift debate” with Inaba. Apparently there was some back-and-forth about technique, about whether a lift was executed properly, the usual judges-vs-pros stuff that happens basically every season of this show. Val wrote that he was putting “some respe – ” in reference to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” presumably implying Inaba needed to show his wife more of it.

Harry Shum Jr. actually had to tell DWTS to 'Breathe' After Lift Drama when everyone lost their minds over his own lift controversy this season.

“So this is what we are doing now?” – Carrie Ann Inaba

The thing is, Carrie Ann has been a judge on this show since season one. Season ONE. That’s over two decades of watching dances, critiquing technique, and dealing with pros who don’t love hearing “that wasn’t your best work.” She’s heard every variation of pushback you can imagine. A Will Smith joke probably isn’t going to rattle her – but it’s also not exactly a great look for Val, who’s now getting dragged online for making light of an incident that, let’s be honest, wasn’t really a joke to begin with when it actually happened in 2022.

What This Actually Means

Here’s my honest take: Val’s clearly protective of Jenna, and there’s nothing wrong with that instinct. But the slap joke was a swing and a miss. Big miss. You don’t get to reference actual real-world violence against a woman as a punchline, even “jokingly,” especially not against someone old enough to be giving you career advice instead of catching strays from your TikTok.

Carrie Ann handled it with the kind of restraint that, frankly, most people wouldn’t have. A four-word clapback. No meltdown, no drawn-out statement, no apology tour. Just… “so this is what we are doing now?” Which, in my opinion, says more than a thousand-word rant ever could.

Does this blow over by next week’s episode? Probably. These things usually do. But if Val’s smart, he deletes the jokes before they go up next time – not after.