Dancing with the Stars contestants Chandler Kinney and Phaedra Parks threw some major shade at recent guest judge Gene Simmons.
Kinney, 24, shared a video via TikTok on Sunday, October 13, that showed her and DWTS partner Brandon Armstrong with Parks, 50, and Val Chmerkovskiy, with a text overlay reading: “Us listening to the guest judge’s comments and scores throughout the night.” In the clip, the group are all mouthing along to the viral sound where rapper Cardi B says, “That’s suspicious, that’s weird.”
Another video shared by Parks on Sunday showed the Real Housewives of Atlanta star and Armstrong reenacting her October 8 interview with Page Six after Simmons gave her performance a five out of ten score, which was met with boos from the crowd. (The other judges had all awarded Parks sevens.)
“I figure he didn’t like short Black women,” she joked.
During the interview, Parks also shared that she “loved the routine” and thought “we did good, despite Gene Simmons being a total ding-a-ling.”
Parks and Chmerkovskiy weren’t the only dancers to get a surprisingly low score from Simmons. The 75-year-old Kiss vocalist and bass player appeared as a guest judge on the October 8 episode of Dancing With the Stars and delivered some harsh scores for the show’s Hair Metal Night. He surprised his fellow judges, performers and the crowd when he awarded former Bachelorette Jenn Tran and her partner, Sasha Farber, a low score for their routine.
“Well, there’s no question you two make a steamy couple,” Simmons told the dancers. “Sasha is terrific, as a professional does it every day, but all the pressure is on you. I have to say, besides being beautiful, you delivered.”
Despite this praise, Simmons added, “Don’t hate me,” as he gave the twosome a score of seven while the other judges game them eights. (Tran and Farber had danced to Europe’s “The Final Countdown.”)
“Listen, he’s an icon. It’s rock ‘n’ roll night. It’s Hair Metal Night,” Farber, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly after the episode. “And if you think icon, which icon would you think is bigger than Gene Simmons? No one. So to have him say that — I’ll take anything he says.”
Tran, 26, agreed with her dance partner, admitting to Us, “I’ll take anything he says. Listen, I don’t listen to heavy metal, whatever this is. But I know Gene Simmons, and that’s just how amazing he is.”
Farber quipped, “It’s OK, Gene, you’re a legend, so we forgive you.”
Simmons has since defended his judging on Dancing With the Stars after receiving some backlash for his comments. “I stand by every word I said,” he told the Daily Mail on Thursday, October 10. “I had a great time. The contestants were great. The show was great. Watch the show.”
He added, “Everybody’s got something to say. Watch the show, it was a lot of fun. Everybody had a great time.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, with episodes available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ the next day.
