A guest judge on the dance reality show Dancing With The Stars has been slammed online after giving “creepy” comments and low scores to the contestants.
ABC had invited 75-year-old KISS frontman Gene Simmons to the show in celebration of Hair Metal night as he joined Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli for Tuesday’s episode.
After the show went off-air, fans were not impressed, pointing out many of the “disgusting” things he said and deeming him the “worst guest judge ever.”
Gene Simmons was slammed online due to his offensive comments as he guest-judged an episode of Dancing With The Stars
@taylore.rae i am uncomfortable and im not even there #dancingwiththestars ♬ Dancing with the Stars – TV Theme Players
Throughout the night, Simmons’ feedback consisted of complimenting the dancers’ physical appearances, particularly the women, instead of focusing on their technique.
After former NHL star Danny Amendola and his pro partner Witney Carson finished their dance, Simmons said he couldn’t decide which of the two was more “hot hot hot.” While the other judges gave sevens out of a maximum 10, he gave the pair a nine.
Throughout the interaction, Carson could be seen with an uncomfortable expression.
He told actor Reginald VelJohnson that he’s got “a beautiful woman right beside you who can twist it and turn it and knows how to move it,” a reference to his partner Emma Slater.
The guest judge later said to actress Chandler Kinney that she “fogged up [his] glasses” while adding that she “moved [him] — not just with your gyrations, but with your beautiful face.”
Besides the inappropriate comments, fans had issues with his scoring, which seemed to be lower for the Black and Asian contestants.
While providing the first 10 of the season to model Brooks Nader, he offered only a five to American TV personality Phaedra Parks when the other judges had given her sevens.
Former Bachelorette Jenn Tran had eights on the board until Simmons said “don’t hate me” and scored her dance a seven.
Fans did not react kindly to the guest judge’s comments, taking to social media to express their frustrations
Someone posted on X, “ABC needs to issue an apology after having Gene Simmons on there and subjecting their cast like that. Why didn’t a producer tell him to knock it off?”
Another chimed in, “You can really tell that this guest judge is racist and sexist based off the scores that he’s giving! This is absolutely ridiculous and disgusting shame on you guys for having him as a judge!”
“hey gene!” wrote one user. “just wanna remind you that this is a dancing show, NOT a beauty contest. respectfully never come back pls and thank you #DWTS.”
“If Gene doesn’t think the woman is hot, she gets a low score,” weighed in a user. “Get this man off my screen. No reason he tried to give Brooks a ten and THE Phaedra Parks a five?”
None of the stars have voiced their opinion, but Chandler’s partner Brandon Armstrong said to US Weekly after the show, “I said, ‘Hold up now.’ I have two sisters. I heard it. I said, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’”
One of the co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro was praised for how he remained professional while attempting to defuse the situation
As Simmons told Phaedra Parks and her partner that he was a “big fan of the bad girl and the bad boy,” he told the audience to settle down as they cheered, saying “it’s a family show.” To this, Ribeiro responded, “Oh, NOW you care?”
He also gave humorous comments throughout the night and said, “I got a feeling Gene’s gonna be doing that a lot tonight,” after the guest judge gave a 9 to footballer Danny Amendola — two points higher than the rest of the panel.
“Alfonso should make a million dollars for how he handled that,” said one person while another mentioned that “[he] was fighting for his life out there.”
A comment on TikTok also read, “Protect that man at all costs! Love him, he’s such a great host.”
The episode ended with a double elimination, where VelJohnson and actor Eric Roberts were sent home after judges’ scores and viewer votes accumulated the lowest numbers.
