Dancing With The Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba is speaking out against the social media hate directed at Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas.
Inaba made her statement underneath a post on Ballas' Instagram page. featured a carousel of images from he and Leavitt's freestyle routine, which the pair performed on the Wednesday, Nov. 26 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast after being eliminated from DWTS in the semifinals.
"??This was absolute brilliance!! ??? And you both delivered a powerful and much needed message," Inaba began her message. "You and Whitney are a creative match made in heaven and it was wonderful to see you — as a choreographer — never have to hold back in both your creativity and your performance. You gave Whitney the place to be her fullest self while leaping out into the unknown and it was healing to watch. This was sheer brilliance for so many reasons."
"And I'm sorry you both went through so much of the online hate this season. Usually it's only me who gets the vitriol like that. It broke my heart to read some of the comments. When people kept saying there was favoritism, I got very upset because that diminishes what you both had worked so hard for," she continued. "Maybe after this season and this powerful performance, the conversations we have about social media and the parasocial relationships people have will shift and evolve. Also, maybe the way the press covers these things can also be less salacious.?."
"I was sad you didn't get to perform this at the finale, but I do think that doing it this way, ended up being even better. It had a different kind of impact," Inaba added. "You do things your own way Mark, and I think this was the way it was meant to be. With the camera angles and the way it was directed, @keyanshoots it couldn't have been any more profound. ?."
She concluded, "Congratulations to you and @whitleavitt for turning the pain into art. ❤️???."
RELATED: Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas Tease Freestyle Performance — but It’s Not on ‘DWTS’
Typically, freestyle routines — which abandon the rules of ballroom and latin dance — are performed only by DWTS finalists. However, after Leavitt and Ballas' shock elimination, ABC reached out to Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper to air the dance on her show.
For their routine, the couple danced to Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as well as the theme song from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
RELATED: Whitney Leavitt Hints at Major Career Move After Being Eliminated From ‘DWTS’
After their elimination, Leavitt and Ballas appeared on the DWTSOfficial Podcast hosted by season 33 champion Joey Graziadei. At the time of the interview, the pair did not know they would still be performing a freestyle routine.
There, Ballas explained that their freestyle was supposed to be inspired by the social media hate both experienced throughout the season. Leavitt has also faced intense backlash and scrutiny during her time on Mormon Wives.
Ballas said he wanted to “tell an organic story with the dance,” showing the journey from their excitement at the beginning the show to the difficult weeks they endured due to online criticism. He noted that he learned a lot from Leavitt about how to handle it.
“The toughness in her and resilience is quite admirable,” he said.
According to Ballas, the pair leaned on each other during the hardest moments of the season, always picking the other up on bad days. Their routine is meant to capture that experience.
“We were just gonna go on that ride together, and it was a classic song,” Ballas said. “There was going to be emotions of highs and happiness, and then moments of darkness and pain and struggle.”
Leavitt and Ballas' freestyle routine is currently available to watch on Call Her Daddy's YouTube page.
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