Carrie Ann Inaba Jumped Into DWTS Fray

Carrie Ann Inaba Jumped Into DWTS Fray

Season 13 of ABC's Dancing With The Stars has been full of controversy.  At the beginning of the season there was lots of criticism directed at Chaz Bono for being one of the celebrity contestants.  There was also a drop in the show's ratings blamed on the lack of big name celebrities.

Last week the controversy continued with DWTS judge Bruno Tonioli calling Chaz, who was eliminated, a penquin and an Ewok.  Mama Cher was extremely upset and Tweeted to Tonioli and the DWTS judges “Critique Chaz’s dance style, movements, etc. But don’t make fun of my child on national TV.”

DWTS Judge Inaba told Billy Bush on Wednesday she respected what Chaz Bono was doing for the transgender community.

She noted “But the scoring has to do with what they’re doing dance wise. We are able to separate the two. We can do that,”  She explained to Bush that  Tonioli didn’t mean for the comment to be “negative or derogatory statement,” Inaba said.

As if the controversy with Tonioli and Bono weren't enough, pro dancer Maksim (Maks) Chmerkovskiy got into a heated disagreement with Judge Len Goodman.

Goodman, who fans consider the most difficult judge to please on DWST, said that Maks' celebrity partner Hope Solo performed the "worst dance of the season".  Maks responded by telling Goodman he should retire as a result of his criticism directed at Solo.

Inaba took to Twitter after the Monday night show to show her support for Goodman.  Inaba tweeted “FYI: Everyone has different abilities on DWTS.” She also tweeted “Every journey is unique to each contestant and everyone’s ten looks slightly different.”

On “Access Hollywood,” Inaba said she believes Maks took the comment “the wrong way.” Maks, famous for having a hot head and a strong temper later apologized to Goodman.

Ironically Inaba avoided all the intial controversy by staying out of the Tonioli/Bono and the

Goodman/Maks controversy.  Maybe the only female judge felt that she needed to show public support for her two fellow judges.

Which explains why she jumped into the DWTS Fray on Twitter and in the media.

Some might wonder if all of the controversy with Bono, Solo and the DWTS judges is an attempt by ABC to help drive up sagging ratings.