Tom Bergeron Says ‘Betrayal’ Led To His Bitter Exit From ‘Dancing With The Stars’
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Tom Bergeron got pretty spicy while talking about the catalyst for his departure from “Dancing With the Stars” ― Sean Spicer.
Bergeron exited the reality competition series in 2020 after being openly critical of the decision by ABC and the show’s producers to include Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary in its 28th season.
While speaking on the “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast Monday, Bergeron did not hold back as he explained how his decision to call out the show’s producers for their bad casting decision led to him getting fired after 15 years of hosting.
Despite Tom Bergeron’s protests, Sean Spicer still competed on Season 28 of “Dancing With the Stars” in 2019.
Bergeron said that before all the Spicer drama went down, he was on extremely good terms with the show’s producers. He had just signed a contract to host the show for three more seasons, and two unnamed producers even took him out to lunch to pick his brain about who he thought they should cast in the 28th season. Due to the upcoming 2020 election and the extremely polarizing political climate at the time, Bergeron urged these producers to avoid casting anyone tied to politics.
“Make us the wonderful escape from all that divisiveness for two hours a week,” he recalled telling them during the podcast.
Bergeron said that during the lunch, these producers enthusiastically agreed with his call to keep the cast apolitical. But “a few weeks later,” they called him up to let them know that they cast Spicer.
“And I said, ‘Guys, this is exactly what we said we wouldn’t do!’” Bergeron recalled saying. “And I would have responded the same way if they had booked Hillary Clinton, whom I voted for. ‘Don’t go there. This is not the right time. Play to our strengths. Be the show that gives people a break from all this bullshit.’ So, I was furious.”
Bergeron felt so strongly he offered to “take the season off.”
So, the producers met his threat with one of their own by offering to let him out of his contract entirely.
“It really pissed me off … my temper kicked in,” Bergeron said on the podcast. “I was at least going to let people know that they fucking lied to me.”
So in August 2019, he called out the show on Twitter.
In his post, Bergeron stated that he wanted the season to be “a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”
He added: “Subsequently (and rather obviously), a decision was made to, as we often say in Hollywood, ‘go in a different direction.’”
How Bergeron didn’t crack a joke about this ensemble Spicer rocked on Season 28 of “Dancing With the Stars” is beyond us.
Bergeron said on the “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast that he was seeing red when he decided to publish his post about his disagreement with his bosses.
“They screwed me, I’m gonna screw them. I wanted the viewers to know this was a step too far. This was a step too far on the cusp of an election year.”
When asked if he gave producers any warning that he was going to publish his post, Bergeron shot back: “They didn’t deserve to know.”
“I wrote the statement that I wrote, that did not name anybody, that did not name a political party. It merely said, ‘I was told certain things when I was asked my opinion, they agreed, and now they’ve thrown a curveball.’ They’re the producers of the show. If that’s what they want to do, they are entitled to do that. We will have to agree to disagree.” Bergeron emphasized that he wasn’t taking an anti-conservative stance, either.
“Had it been a Democrat, same statement. Honestly. It’s not about my political beliefs. It’s about, ‘What is this show at its best?’ And we were becoming the show at its worst.” Bergeron went on to host the 28th season, and Spicer got voted off after eight weeks of brutal mocking on social media.
Despite hosting the season, Bergeron said he knew it was “probably my last season … because of that one betrayal. … My lawyer had said to me, ‘[Your post was] really well written, but you’re putting a bull’s-eye on your back.’”
In July 2020, Bergeron announced he was leaving “DWTS” and was replaced by Tyra Banks. Bergeron’s co-host Erin Andrews also left at the same time.
In October 2021, Bergeron told the late Bob Saget on his “Here for You” podcast that he “wasn’t surprised” to be “fired” from “DWTS.”
“I wasn’t surprised that that was my last season, so there was no blue period,” Bergeron told Saget. “Actually, I think Erin [Andrews] and I had more fun being fired than virtually anybody.”
