Amber Rose is currently competing on this season of Dancing with the Stars. Apparently, she’s not doing very well, but I believe that the point of this exercise is the extension of Amber’s brand, the “mainstreaming” of Amber’s message about body-positivity, sex-positivity, etc. It’s likely not a coincidence that Amber hosted another SlutWalk – aimed at reclaiming the pejoratives aimed at women and their sexuality – in the middle of DWTS run this weekend. I’m including some photos of Amber from the SlutWalk in this post.
Anyway, last week, Amber said that she felt body shamed by DWTS judge Julianne Hough. Hough had said, on air, that she felt “uncomfortable” watching Amber’s dance, and Amber felt that Hough was possibly “uncomfortable” watching a curvier girl attempt to dance. Hough later said she didn’t mean it that way, and I defended Amber a little bit, saying that she’s entitled to her feelings and if she felt body shamed, she probably was. But on last night’s episode, Amber apologized to Julianne and they sort of worked through their sh-t on air.
Amber Rose publicly apologized to Julianne Hough on Monday evening’s episode of Dancing with the Stars for claiming that the judge “body shamed” her. On week three’s Sept. 26 performance, Rose performed a salsa to the tunes of Jennifer Lopez’s “Booty.” During the number, Rose wrapped her leg around pro partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy and he dipped her towards the ground. As Hough watched during the live performance, she remarked to fellow judge Bruno Tonioli, “I actually feel a little uncomfortable.”
After performing her week four Argentine Tango on Monday night, Rose addressed the drama during the live show – and apologized to Hough.
“Like I said in the package, when you said that I felt very embarrassed and I felt like you weren’t talking about the dance. But if I misunderstood, then I apologize. I’m a very positive person, I don’t like to argue or bicker or make things weird,” Rose, 32, said to Hough.
Hough, 28, then stood up, clapped for the model and clarified her week three commentary.
“I would like to say one thing also. The thing that I love so much about dance is that dance is a universal platform for people to express themselves – any person. Whether that is age or height, body shape, ethnicity, sexual orientation. It is something that people can express themselves to do,” Hough began. “And for me, I am a huge supporter of that and that alone. As a judge on this show, I am here to solely judge you and everyone else in this competition for only the dancing. So I want you to know that.”
After Rose received her scores (24/30), she and Hough could be seen chatting and hugging after the show went to commercial break. Backstage, Rose spoke to reporters about clearing the air.
“Last week was really hard for me,” she said. “When she said that … I was just like, ‘How did my salsa make you that uncomfortable?’ But she said that it wasn’t like that and it was just pertaining to my dance and I believe her. So, I love that it’s just all positivity now and just moving forward. People react to things differently. I wouldn’t have reacted that way, but everyone does,” she continued. “It’s cool. I’m glad that it’s over and done and we’re just moving forward.”
I think Amber was perhaps being oversensitive, although Julianne’s “uncomfortable” statement really could be taken in different ways. It was good that Amber was the bigger person and offered an apology to Julianne, and that both women got to talk about their perspectives. It’s not like Julianne said that Amber has no business dancing, and it’s not like Amber said Julianne is a terrible person. It was a misunderstanding based on a vague statement that could be left up to interpretation. I’m glad both women worked it out.
