Lifetime Drops 'Dance Moms' Abby Lee Miller After Alleged Racist Remarks
She made the alleged comments to a 7-year-old black girl
Lifetime has officially said goodbye to Abby Lee Miller.
According to Deadline, the network has severed ties with Miller — both canceling her competition reality TV series, Virtual Dance-Off, and removing her from the ninth season of Dance Moms, should it be renewed. The move follows allegations of racist remarks made by Miller.
It started on Tuesday when Miller shared a now-deleted Blackout Tuesday post on Instagram. It then caught the attention of Adriana Smith, the mother of dancer Kamryn, who was on Season 8 of Dance Moms.
“I couldn’t think of a more perfect day to address my experience with Abby Lee Miller,” Smith started. “A statement from her that sticks in my mind to this day during my time on DMS8 is ‘I know you grew up in the HOOD with only a box of 8 crayons, but I grew up in the Country Club with a box of 64 – don’t be stupid. This to me shows that you think you are better than me and in higher rank and all together superior to ME!”
Smith also wrote that Miller said Kamryn was on the show for “a sprinkle of color.”
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Following Smith’s post, another Dance Moms parent, Camille Bridges, told E! News that Miller tried to spin her daughter Camryn as being “the poor one and there on scholarship.”
“She continuously put Camryn in afros,” Bridges continued. “It was a traumatic experience that I wish on no one.”
Miller posted an apology on her Instagram, stating in part that she “genuinely” understood and “deeply” regretted “how [her] words have effected and hurt those around [her] in the past, particularly those in the black community.”
“I realize that racism can come not just from hate, but also from ignorance, she continued. “No matter the cause, it is harmful, and it is my fault. While I cannot change the past or remove the harm I have done, I promise to educate myself, learn, grow, and do better. While I hope to one day earn your forgiveness, I recognize that words alone are not enough. I understand it takes time and genuine change.”
Smith didn’t accept the apology — “because her apology was not sincere,” she wrote.
“At this point, this is bigger than Kamryn and I,” Smith said. “It’s about the potential effect that she has on the future of dance and negative, stereotypical influences on young, aspiring dancers of color.”
Former Dance Moms producer, Kori Kingg, also reacted to the allegations, saying that it “broke” her.
“This broke me as I was working on show and pregnant with my own black daughter. In hindsight, I, too, should have left. I should have stood with my sister, Adriana Janae Smith and supported gorgeous baby Kam and left too,” Kingg continued. “Seeing a 7-year-old little black girl be put in a box in a corner and treated so violently because of the color of her skin was heartbreaking. It reminded me of when I ‘found out I was black’ at an age not much older than her.”
Abby’s Virtual Dance-Off was supposed to premiere in June.
