Wendy Williams on 'Dancing with the Stars': 'They wanted me to be all black girl'
theGRIO REPORT - Wendy Williams had some advice for her 'sister in the name of boobs,' Sherri Shepherd, after seeing the Monday night season premiere of ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars'...
Wendy Williams had some advice for her “sister in the name of boobs,” Sherri Shepherd, after seeing the Monday night season premiere of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
The View co-host is a celebrity contestant on the 14th season of the ABC hit show— which Williams also previously competed on — and she’s partnered with 25-yr-old Valentin Chmerkovskiy as one of two black female contestants (along with R&B legend Gladys Knight).
Williams, while addressing her studio audience on Tuesday’s show, criticized DWTS for dressing Shepherd in a mid-calf length, purple chiffon gown, which she claimed covered her up too much.
She asked, “Why did you let them put you in all that material, Sherri?”
Williams also added that she doesn’t think Shepherd will win the competition, which awards the “star” and their professional ballroom dance partner with “the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy.”
The talk show host goes on to comment that Shepherd, in her post-performance interview, (where the dancing couple stand before a panel of three judges; Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli) seemed altered, or out-of-character.
“You know when you’re talking to the camera and not doing the dancing, Sherri, you were giving them everything they want to see from us black girls — that loud talk, the gaping laugh — don’t let them do that to you, Sherri.”
Williams then drew parallels between her and Shepherd’s experience, telling her viewers that she’s discussed in the past how “they” (presumably Dancing with the Stars producers) wanted her to act a certain way, which Wendy re-enacted with exaggerated gestures.
“They wanted me to be all black girl — ‘oh no she did, oh yes she, oh no,” she said as she snapped her fingers, continuing, “Tony — you is not going to make me dance like that no mo’!”
ABC and Dancing with the Stars have yet to respond to Williams’ accusations that she was asked to reinforce black female stereotypes.
