NEED TO KNOW
Maks Chmerkovskiy is apologizing to Jan Ravnik for his previous critiques of his Dancing with the Stars performance.
Chmerkovskiy, 45, and his wife, Peta Murgatroyd, discussed Ravnik’s ballroom dancing skills on the Oct. 24 episode of Murgatroyd’s podcast, The Penthouse with Peta.
“I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing with the Stars. There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership,” Chmerkovskiy said of Ravnik, best known as one of Taylor Swift’s backup dancers from the Eras Tour.
After Chmerkovskiy’s comments, he faced criticism from the reality dancing competition’s viewers and on Thursday, Oct. 30, he issued an apology to Ravnik, 30, via Instagram. “I want to apologize to Jan for the way my words hurt your feelings,” he began.
The former DWTS pro then asked to chat with Ravnik over coffee, saying, “I would love to meet, I would love to talk about this, bury the hatchet.”
“Most importantly, I think, you know, walk away with knowing me feeling completely different,” he added. “And, dare I say, we probably might even be friends.”
Disney/Eric McCandless
He then explained that he has the type of personality that if he loves you, he “will tell you how it is.”
“My commentary on dance does not come with feelings and emotions. It just comes with completely different range of reasoning,” he said. “I would like to explain myself, like I said. I would like this to be personal, because this is, this is crazy to me.”
Chmerkovskiy then also remarked on the public’s criticisms about his DWTS tenure. “Well, you can’t really hurt my feelings by saying, ‘Look at you, loser. You only won once.'”
“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. They are much better at Dancing with the Stars than me,” he said in reference to his brother, Val Chmerkovskiy, his sister-in-law Jenna Johnson, and his wife. His brother has won three times and their wives have both won twice.
He confessed that, throughout his time on the show, he “was never able to really wrestle with and dominate the public perception, the public opinion, and what people think about me.”
Chmerkovskiy competed in 17 seasons of the series, beginning with Season 2 in 2006.
“Fundamentally, I don’t care, and I lead with that. And because I lead with that, I’m not fighting for anybody’s votes,” Chmerkovskiy continued. “And so in a platform where that’s important, I’m not the guy.”
He confessed that throughout his time, he made “incredible mistakes” with his partners. “With how I presented myself a few times. With the loss of temper was horrible situations, a few times,” he said. “So it’s not like you’re saying stuff that I don’t already know.”
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Taking a moment to reflect, Chmerkovskiy said 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,” he said.
He ended his message by remarking, “Let’s not defend someone by attacking somebody else. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
His apology follows Ravnik’s response on Tuesday, Oct. 28: “I have no comment on that. Look, I got all the love on this show,” Ravnik told Entertainment Tonight. “All the praise from the judges also, like everyone gave me so much love.”
He 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.”
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Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and PT on ABC. Episodes are available for streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
