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“Dancing With the Stars” alum Maks Chmerkovskiy apologized to current pro Jan Ravnik for criticizing his ballroom dance ability, and even invited him to meet in person.
“First and foremost, I want to apologize to Jan, for the way my words had made you feel, for hurting your feelings,” he began his apology via Instagram Reels Thursday.
“There’s a lot more that I want to say. I would like an opportunity to do it over coffee, or any kind of time you have to spare. I would love to meet, I would love to talk about this and bury the hatchet.”
Chmerkovskiy, 45, said that the main reason why he wants to meet Ravnik, 30, in person is because he believes that the Slovakia native would walk away “feeling completely different” about the situation.
“Dare I say we possibly might even be friends,” the ballroom dance champion claimed.
Chmerkovskiy also noted how his comments that many “DWTS” fans deemed as harsh weren’t personal and that is just his personality.
“If I love you I will tell you how it is, let alone if I don’t know you,” he explained. “My commentary on dance does not come with feelings and emotions, it just comes with a completely different range of reasoning.”
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After wrapping up his apology that was personally directed at Ravnik, Chmerkovskiy got to his second point that he described as “more ego driven,” and addressed all his critics bashing him online for his comments.
“You can’t really hurt my feelings by saying, ‘Look at you loser, you’ve only won once.’ Yes, I know that more than anybody else,” he insisted.
The choreographer even admitted to his own shortcomings during his 17 seasons as a pro on the hit dance competition show.
“Part of ‘DWTS’ that I was never able to really wrestle with and dominate is the public perception, the public opinion, and what people think about me. Fundamentally, I don’t care and I lead with that, and because I lead with that, I’m not fighting for anybody’s votes.”
He owned up to making “incredible mistakes with [his] partners” and his “loss of temper” which led to a few “horrible situation[s].”
Chmerkovskiy shared that he tries to “only lead my example” since having children, and because of that, he is able to admit to his own wrongdoings and doesn’t need “people with keyboards” coming after him.
“Let’s not defend someone by attacking somebody else,” he concluded.
His apology comes days after Ravnik appeared to subtly defend himself against Chmerkovskiy’s scathing remarks after he and partner Jen Affleck got eliminated Tuesday.
“I’m a person who doesn’t appreciate hate or people who are spreading hate to stay relevant,” Ravnik told E! News.
The dancers’ feud began last Friday when the Ukrainian-born dance instructor called Ravnik’s casting “absurd” while appearing on wife Peta Murgatroyd’s “The Penthouse With Peta” podcast.
He specifically bashed Ravnik’s choreography following his “Wicked Night” routine, claiming that the current pro “had no idea what foxtrot is supposed to look like.”
Although Chmerkovskiy tagged Ravnik in his apology video, the Eras Tour dancer has yet to publicly respond.
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