It’s a show to celebrate the art of dance, with raising money for worthy causes at its core, yet in the wake of the Dancing with the Stars final, the spotlight has moved from the cha-cha and charities to a notorious radio host.
The Edge shock jock, Dom Harvey, posted an offensive photo of DWTS runner up Chrystal Chenery after Sunday’s finale on social media. The image, which showed the dancer performing a leg kick during the show, was captioned: “Crystal just showing Art what he missed out on [sic]”. The Bachelor, Arthur Green, replied to Harvey with a comment on the post: “Damn it”.
Dom Harvey made this offensive post on social media, which was commented on by The Bachelor Art Green.
The post was met by widespread criticism across the country. Dom Harvey deleted it the following day and issued an apology to Chrystal. “Last night during DWTS I took a screen cap of Chrystal dancing and posted it online … This was done with the intention of being funny with absolutely no malice intended. I deleted the post this morning as soon as I heard Chrystal wasn’t ok with it. I’d like to apologise to Chrystal for any harm this caused her or anybody else,” it read.
However, the former The Bachelor contestant, Chrystal Chenery, is refusing to accept his apology, calling for him to be disciplined over the derogatory post. “I don’t accept his apology… He always gets away with everything on air … He has made a long list of errors of judgment on social media and on air and as far as I am concerned he should go,” she told NZ Herald.
She went on to encourage her supporters to boycott Harvey’s radio show.
“These guys should be held accountable for their bad behaviour and I encourage listeners to look elsewhere for their entertainment.”
Chenery said she was proud of how far she and dance partner Jonny Williams went on the show and the money they had raised for their chosen charity, Home and Family. She is upset that the spotlight has moved from the charitable success of DWTS to the radio host’s offensive post.
“Then we made the final, which was just amazing and yet today all I read about is Dominic Harvey’s antics,” she said.
Chrystal wants to see attention turn back to all the great charity work the show has done
Dom is disappointed that Chrystal will not accept his apology and is now gunning for his job. He claims she has even asked for him to pay her hotel bill as compensation. “It was a crass joke… I apologised on social media,” he says. “We offered her the opportunity to come on [the show] and chat about this but she wasn’t keen.”
Watch Chrystal and Jonny dance the rumba that caused all the controversy:
