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Some “Dancing With the Stars” fans are angry over contestant Wayne Brady jumping into the comment section on an Instagram post from the official “Dancing With the Stars” account.
Here’s what you need to know:
Wayne Brady Called Heidi D’Amelio a ‘Trained Dancer’ & Fans Thought He Was Throwing Shade
On Reddit, a fan posted a screenshot of some since-deleted Instagram comments where one commenter wrote that Heidi D’Amelio “did not deserve to go home, how sad.”
One response to that comment was, “Agree. Unpopular opinion, but I thought technically she danced better than Wayne [Brady], Daniel [Durant] and Trevor [Donovan] most of the time. She just had issues with emoting and personality coming out.”
To that comment, Brady replied in a now-deleted comment, “No one disagrees with you or has ever said that she didn’t dance better technically. She a trained dancer, so” and the rest of the comment is cut off.
In the Reddit thread, some fans think Brady was throwing Shade at D’Amelio.
“Wayne, baby, you’ve done multiple Broadway shows lol. Out of all the people he could say this about, he uses it against the 50-year-old mom who hasn’t danced in 30 years like, boy stop lol,” wrote one commenter.
Another wrote, “This is just… not a good look from Wayne. He should have just left it alone and not said anything. I understand wanting to respond to an attack/criticism if that’s what he was doing, but this wasn’t the way to go.”
A third echoed that sentiment, writing, “Wow, this is not a good look. I don’t think he should’ve commented at all, seemed unnecessary.”
“Yes, Wayne could’ve said this about Gabby [Windey] or Charli [D’Amelio] and it wouldn’t be nearly as bad, but picking on 50 yo mom who’s not in the entertainment industry probably last danced 30 years ago when you’ve been in Broadway is beyond scummy,” wrote a fourth fan.
One fan called this “the last straw,” saying that they’ve let “too many of [Brady’s] little moments and attitude pass,” and they are no longer going to vote for him.
To that comment, another viewer replied, “Same. I was excited when he was announced and wanted him to win, but from week one, I was immediately put off by his ego. I loved him on ‘Whose Line,’ but he’s coming across like such a jerk here and it’s disappointing, and it’s only gotten worse. I’d be totally fine if Trevor or Daniel took his spot in the final now.”
Another fan added, “Wait. Wayne Brady isn’t a trained dancer and performer? He’s done Broadway, TV, performed for years! Heidi is basically a soccer mom at this point, even if she had dance training before she had kids. This is just kicking Heidi while she’s down.”
“Okay officially no longer a Wayne fan. He probably has the most entertainment and camera experience out of anyone this season. So for him to throw out shade like this, especially to an eliminated contestant, that’s just mean,” wrote another viewer.
Some Fans Pointed Out That He Might Actually Be Agreeing With the Commenters Who Liked Heidi D’Amelio
Some of the fans on Reddit think that the now-deleted comment was taken out of context, especially because you can’t see the rest of it in the screenshot.
One fan pointed out that the part of his message you can see the top of seems to read “she a trained dancer, so you’re right. Thank you for” and the rest is completely cut off. We agree that that is what the words look like
they say, and that person thinks he probably said “thank you for watching the show or caring about the show so much something like that.”
To that, one commenter likened this to when host Tom Bergeron told season 24 contestant Simone Biles he was “waiting for her to smile at some of the compliments,” to which she shrugged and replied, “Smiling doesn’t win you gold medals.”
That commenter wrote, “So it’s not as horrible as people are making it out to be? That makes me so angry! People who took Simone’s ‘smiles don’t win medals’ comment out of context and called her arrogant and full of herself were called racist. Why are people allowed to get away with doing that to Wayne? … He’s acknowledging Heidi is a better technical dancer and that she does have some training, and then the comment gets cut off. So none of us know what else he said.”
Several fans are defending Brady, saying that he seems to be in agreement with the fan who thought D’Amelio is a better technical dancer than he is.
“I don’t get what people are upset about. He is just empathizing with exactly what she said about herself in her package. As well as singling out her strong points – things that she did not talk about, but he wanted to put out there,” wrote one fan, to which another replied, “And he said no one is disagreeing with her. It sounds like Wayne agrees that Heidi danced better, but he out preformed her.”
Some fans do think it is weird the comment got deleted, though.
But either way, the “Dancing With the Stars” season 31 semifinals are coming up on Monday, November 14. The final six dancers are Brady, Donovan, Durant, Windey, Heidi’s daughter Charli D’Amelio, and Shangela. It will be a double elimination before sending four dancers to the finals on November 21.
“Dancing With the Stars” airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific times on Disney Plus.