Earlier this week, Dance Mom’s star Adriana Smith accused dance coach Abby Lee Miller of being a “racist.”
Smith is the mother of Kamryn, who performed in an episode of season 8 in hopes of joining the team, People reports. The mother has come forward about her experience on the dance show and the racially insensitive remarks made by Miller.
“I recently posted on my FB that racism is not something we can disagree on and still be friends, which in turn is why we are not friends,” Smith wrote on Instagram. “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 my friends is not something or a statement that can be googled. Ask yourself what does that mean? This to me shows that you think you are better than me and in higher rank and all together superior to ME!”
“Do you remember you told me, ‘Do you want me to tell you why you are really here?’ LOL as if I didn’t know … again showing your superiority. Let me remind you what you said in case you forgot. You told me to ‘LOOK in the MIRROR! That’s the only reason you are here!’ Kam told me she heard ‘they need a sprinkle of color!'”
Smith’s caption read, “I couldn’t think of a more perfect day to address my experience with Abby Lee Miller” and ask people if they want to know the truth.
On Thursday, the dance coach apologized for her actions through her social media.
“I genuinely understand and deeply regret how my words have effected [sic] and hurt those around me in the past, particularly those in the Black community,” Miller, 53, wrote in an Instagram post. “To Kamryn, Adriana, and anyone else I’ve hurt, I am truly sorry. I realize that racism can not just come from hate, but also from ignorance. No matter the cause, it is harmful, and it is my fault. While I cannot change the past or remove the harm I’ve 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 said her reasons for leaving the show came after her last on-camera interview after a producer asked her how Miller’s comments made her feel.
“As tears streamed down my face, I look over at my 7-year-old and back at the camera and say, this is my EVERYDAY life as a black woman. This is nothing new to me. But what I’m not going to have happen is have this racist person have any part of my daughter’s life as of this moment. At that moment, I knew that it was more important for me to show my daughter that she had to stand up for what’s right and not care about anything else. But in that interview, my little 7 year old cried like a GROWN black woman and stood up and said, ‘Mom I understand it’s not right here and I want to go home too….'”
Camille Bridges, another dance mom shared her experience with E! News. Her daughter, Camryn Bridges, appeared during the seventh season. Bridges says that Miller tried to spin Camryn as the “poor one” and there on scholarship. “I shut that down immediately. She loves appropriating our culture and never appreciating it. She did not give black choreographers on the show acknowledgment of their work. She continuously put Camryn in afros.”
As for the production, producer Kori Kingg reacted to Smith’s post through her private Facebook account.
“Some would say I should be quiet about this. But THIS THIS!?! 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,” she reportedly wrote. “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.”
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