Sean Spicer has hit back at Tom Bergeron after the former “Dancing With the Stars” host said that the casting of the former press secretary “screwed” him over.
“I’ve always thought Tom was a great host,” Spicer, 52, told The Post Tuesday adding that he “loved being a part of Season 28” and is “thoroughly enjoying the current season.”
Spicer, who served under President Donald Trump, made the exclusive statement following Bergeron’s, 68, declaration on Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast on Monday.
“I said, ‘Guys, this is exactly what we said we wouldn’t do,’ ” Bergeron told the former “DWTS” dancer.” ‘Don’t go there. This is, you know, not the right time, play to our strengths, be the show that gives people a break from all this bulls–t.’”
Despite the former host’s warnings, it was clear to him that both the showrunner and producer were determined to cast Spicer.
Bergeron, who claimed that he would have issued the same statement had the contestant been a high-profile Democrat, told executives that he would “take the season off” while Spicer was on the show.
However, ABC countered the ex-“America’s Funniest Home Videos” host’s offer and told him that they could release him from his contract.
“That’s how strongly they felt,” Bergeron said, while adding that it “really pissed me off.”
In a fit of rage, Bergeron released a statement on his now deactivated Twitter that did little to conceal his distaste of Spicer’s casting by blasting ABC and how the show had deviated from a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate” free of “inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”
According to the TV personality, he didn’t warn ABC about the statement because “they didn’t deserve to know.”
“They had screwed me. I’m gonna screw them,” Bergeron declared. “But I wanted the viewers to know this was a step too far to me.
“This was a step too far on the cusp of an election year. And again — had it been a Democrat, same statement,” he added.
Following the announcement that the former Trump official would be joining the star-studded competition, Bergeron claimed he received tons of complaints from viewers which he took as a sign to leave the show.
“At that moment, I knew this is probably my last season, because of that one betrayal,” Bergeron said. “Up until that point, there were people of character there.”
In July 2020, Bergeron announced his departure from the show.
“Just informed @DancingABC will be continuing without me,” Bergeron tweeted. “It’s been an incredible 15 year run and the most unexpected gift of my career. I’m grateful for that and for the lifelong friendships made. That said, now what am I supposed to do with all of these glitter masks?”
Spicer, for his part, said while on the show that he hoped that viewers could “put every policy and politics aside.”
“I’ve been living this for a while. I expect it,” Spicer later told reporters after his “DWTS” debut.
“We are where we are as a country, but if people could tune in tonight and say, ‘Look at this diverse cast. They’re rooting for each other, they’re having a blast with each other,’ and we can for two hours put every policy and politics aside and root for different people, have fun and relax, then that’s what we should do more of.”
Spicer and his pro-dancer parter Lindsay Arnold placed sixth during the show’s 28th season.
“Dancing With the Stars” airs every Tuesday on ABC at 8 p.m.
Source link
