‘DWTS’ host would prefer Spicer-less cast
“Dancing With the Stars” host Tom Bergeron, ever the voice of reason in the show’s cavalcade of sequins, feathers and spray tans, has voiced his disappointment over “DWTS” producers’ decision to cast former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on the longrunning dance competition. Bergeron believes the show should remain nonpartisan.
“It is the prerogative of the producers, in partnership with the network, to make whatever decisions they feel are in the best long-term interests of the franchise,” the Emmy winner said in a statement released on Twitter in the wake of the show’s Season 28 casting announcement. “We can agree to disagree, as we do now, but ultimately it’s their call.”
He said his hope was that the series, in returning from its “unprecedented” yearlong hiatus, would be “a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”
“I always gaze into the camera’s lens and imagine you on the other side, looking for a two-hour escape from whatever life hassles you’ve been wrestling with. That’s a connection, and a responsibility, which I take very seriously, even if I occasionally season it with dad jokes,” Bergeron said in his statement.
This season, Spicer will compete against country music star Lauren Alaina, supermodel Christie Brinkley, pop star Ally Brooke, “Queer Eye” star Karamo Brown, “The Bachelorette” star Hannah Brown, “The Office” alum Kate Flannery, NFL Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, Nickelodeon veteran Kel Mitchell, former NBA star Lamar Odom, actor James Van Der Beek and Supremes singer Mary Wilson.