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Maksim Chmerkovskiy is clarifying his recent statements about new "Dancing with the Stars" pro Jan Ravnik. On Oct. 24, Chmerkovskiy appeared on his wife Peta Murgatroyd’s “The Penthouse With Peta” podcast and said Ravnik had "no business" teaching a celebrity partner on the dancing competition. “There’s zero foundation, technique, quality, understanding of the partnership. Bro, I’m getting emotional,” Chmerkovskiy said during the episode. Ravnik, who was previously a dancer on Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour," was partnered with "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" star Jen Affleck. The duo were eliminated from the competition on the Oct. 28 episode. After facing criticism for his comments about Ravnik's dancing skills, Chmerkovskiy posted a new video to his Instagram page and explained what motivated him to speak out in the first place. “First and foremost, I want to apologize to Jan for the way my words had made you feel, for hurting your feelings,” Chmerkovskiy said. The professional dancer, who was a "DWTS" pro for 17 seasons, then said he would "love to meet" Ravnik and and "bury the hatchet." “And, dare I say, we probably might even be friends,” he said, adding that he hopes a 1:1 meeting would leave Ravnik "feeling completely different." Chmerkovskiy went on to explain that he didn't mean to offend Ravnik when he made his initial comments. "I'm not not a friend, regardless of what I say. Maybe it's paradoxical, but my personality. (If) I love you, (I) will tell you how it is, let alone if I don't know you," he said. Chmerkovskiy then clarified that he doesn't let "feelings and emotion" cloud his "commentary on dance." “It just comes with (a) completely different range of reasoning. And, you know, I'm that guy. And so I would like to explain myself, like I said. I would like this to be personal because this is crazy to me,” he said. Chmerkovskiy's wife, brother Val Chmerkovskiy and sister-in-law Jenna Johnson have all appeared as professional dancers on "DWTS." During his video message, the 45-year-old said many people reached out to him after his comments about Ravnik to criticize him for only winning the show once. “You can’t really hurt my feelings by saying, ‘Look at you, loser. You only won once.’ Blah, blah, blah. Yes, I know that more than anybody else. I’m also very well aware that every single member of my family has won 'Dancing with the Stars' more than I have. They are much better at 'Dancing with the Stars than me,'” he said. Chmerkovskiy explained that he always had a hard time mastering one important element of the competition: public perception and what people think of him. "Fundamentally, I don’t care, and I lead with that. And because I lead with that, I’m not fighting for anybody’s votes,” he said. “And so in a platform where that’s important, I’m not the guy.” Chmerkovskiy said he was motivated to apologize to Ravnik publicly after doing some soul searching, not because of the public's criticism. “(When) I realize something about myself, I realize it. It’s not going to be because somebody says that to me, it’s because I finally understood that for myself,” he said. At the end of his video, the professional dancer sent a message to social media users, saying, "Let’s not defend someone by attacking somebody else. That’s all I’m gonna say.” After being eliminated from "DWTS" on Oct. 28, Ravnik addressed Chmerkovskiy's podcast comments during an interview with "Entertainment Tonight." "I have no comment on that. Look, I got all the love on this show. All the praise from the judges also, like everyone gave me so much love," he said. "Whoever is saying, outside, the people who (are) trying to stay relevant and spreading the hate, this is not a way to do it. And I never will spread or take the hate."
