Maksim Chmerkovskiy will not be bullied.
On Monday night's Dancing with the Stars, Hope Solo's 31-year-old partner lashed out at judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli after their scathing critiques. While Lacey Schwimmer and Chaz Bono supported Maksim for standing up for himself, Ricki Lake's partner Derek Hough sided with the judges.
"Derek Hough has been very supportive of his personal career on the show," Maksim said in an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America Wednesday. "When you say judges have been generous, with all due respect, if I had Nicole Scherzinger followed by Jennifer Grey followed by Ricki Lake, I probably would not be very upset with the judges either."
But unlike Derek, Maksim isn't going to sing the judges' praises. "I had a long conversation with my dad and I don't regret anything," he said on Good Morning America. "That's why I think I'm misunderstood in this situation. Everyone is waiting for me to bow my head and plead for forgiveness. I have nothing to apologize for. I'm in the business because I love it. I can't really lose with remarks like this."
"One thing I'm not going to embrace is pointing fingers and disrespectful remarks," he explained. "Why are judges allowed to compare us to animals and point their fingers and we can't say we're work and show our opinion?"
