Tom Bergeron & Erin Andrews Fired From 'Dancing With The Stars,' Producers Weigh In
By TheBlast Staff on July 16, 2020 at 2:06 PM EDT
Gettyimages | Aaron Davidson
Tom Bergeron is one of the most iconic Television show hosts ever. His time on America’s "Funniest Home Videos" and previously hosting the legendary show “Dancing With The Stars” has made the 65-year-old a familiar face for most TV watchers.
Recently the “Hollywood Squares” host was reportedly fired from “Dancing With The Stars” along with a judge of the show named Erin Andrews. The show has controversially replaced Bergeron (who has hosted 443 episodes of the show) with "AGT" host Tyra Banks.
In several social media posts from Erin and Tom, it became clear they didn't leave the show by choice.
Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banks2011_(cropped).jpg
The 46-year-old “America’s Got Talent” host and creator of “America’s Next Top Model” has become one or the most influential people on the planet according to Time Magazine, but that hasn’t stopped many from attributing the former judges' essential firing from the dance competition to recent racial activism that has swept across the nation.
Albeit a topic that has no end in terms of discussion, Tyra has been interviewed about her upcoming role as Tom & Erin’s replacement and is excited to get started.
Gettyimages | Al Messerschmidt
Although Tyra says she hadn’t thought about the fact that she would be the first black American to host the show, many have speculated that her hiring was a political move for ABC (the television network with DWTS) in light of so many networks receiving criticism and even alleged lawsuits over not having enough “racial diversity”.
A perfect example of this was when former “America’s Got Talent” judge Gabrielle Union announced that she suing the NBC show and British icon Simon Cowell over what she believes was extensive racism towards contestants.
Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TomBergeronApr09.jpg
Producers told US Weekly in a public statement about how Erin and Tom would not be returning to the show, basically firing them prior to the 29th seasons of the show:
“Tom Bergeron will forever be part of the Dancing With the Stars family. As we embark on a new creative direction, he departs the show with our sincerest thanks and gratitude for his trademark wit and charm that helped make this show a success. Erin will also not be returning, and we appreciate all that she brought to the ballroom.”
It should be noted that neither Tom or Erin were removed from the show due to poor work performance or lack of lively interaction with the contestants. If anything, fans have come to genuinely appreciate and expect to see the former show hosts. The producers themselves praised both of them for their talents while hosting the show:
“Fans have been rooting for her since she originally competed as a contestant back in 2010, and her signature sense of humor has become a hallmark of the show.”
Quite a few people on social media and independent sites have shared how they view this as nothing more than an effort to be politically correct in the eyes of the viewer. (Especially since the aforementioned lawsuit filed by Gabrielle has zero evidence to prove racism exists on NBC’s "Got Talent" shows)
