Maksim Chmerkovskiy is apologizing to Jan Ravnik after saying the former Taylor Swift backup dancer had “no business” being on Dancing With the Stars because of his “zero foundation” and “technique.”
The ballroom professional, who served as a pro dancer on the ABC series for 17 seasons before he retired after season 25, was unapologetic while delivering his critique on his wife Peta Murgatroyd’s The Penthouse With Peta podcast last week, calling Ravnik’s casting on the current 34th season “absurd.” However, he went for a more contrite tone on his Instagram video Thursday.
“First and foremost, I want to apologize to Jan for the way my words made you feel, for hurting your feelings,” he said. “There’s a lot more that I want to say. I would like an opportunity to do it over coffee, or any kind of time you have to spare. I would love to meet. I would love to bury the hatchet.”
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Chmerkovskiy coninued, “Most importantly, I think you’re going to walk away with knowing me, feeling completely different and, dare I say, we probably might even be friends. Maybe it’s paradoxical, but my personality [is] ‘I love you, and I will tell you how it is,’ let alone if I don’t know you. So, my commentary on dance does not come with feelings and emotions, it just comes with [a] completely different range of reasoning.”
The dancer noted that much of the backlash he received centered on him only winning the show’s Mirrorball trophy once, and recognized that he had his own list of shortcomings during his tenure on DWTS, including his infamously fierce temper.
“Yes, I know that more than anybody else. I’m very well aware that every single member in my family has won Dancing With the Stars more than I have,” he quipped in reference to his brother, Val Chmerkovskiy (three-time winner), his sister-in-law Jenna Johnson, and his wife (both two-time winners). “They are much better at Dancing With the Stars than me… Fundamentally, I don’t care, and I lead with that. And because I lead with that, I’m not fighting for anybody’s votes. And so in a platform where that’s important, I’m not the guy.”
And even though some fans of the series agreed with the Chmerkovskiy’s critique of Ravnik, he asked his followers not to “not defend someone by attacking somebody else.”
Chmerkovskiy added that he hopes “to only lead by example,” explaining: “Because of that, I can point at myself and say, ‘Don’t do that.’ [When] I realize something about myself, I realize it. It’s not going to be because somebody says that to me, it’s because I finally understood that for myself… That’s all I’m gonna say.”
Ravnik and his celebrity partner, The Secret Lives of Mormen Wives star Jen Affleck, were eliminated on Tuesday after they performed a contemporary routine to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” for Halloween Night.
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After their elimination, Ravnik responded to Chmerkovskiy’s criticism during a chat with Entertainment Tonight. “I have no comment on that. Look, I got all the love on this show,” Ravnik told the outlet. “All the praise from the judges also, like everyone gave me so much love.”
Ravnik added, “Whoever is saying, outside, the people who [are] trying to stay relevant and spreading the hate, this is not a way to do it. And I never will spread or take the hate.”
Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+, and streams the next day on Hulu.
