Dance Moms' Abby Lee Miller apologizes for past racist comments, loses Lifetime special
Aux Features Abby Lee Miller
If Blackout Tuesday—well-intentioned, though wholly misguided as it was—managed to successfully accomplish anything, it did spur a very public need to robustly call out celebrities who merely feign allyship with the Black community. Were you a terror to your Black co-workers? Consider your behavior exposed. Does your CW teen soap need to channel its expressed support of the community into its Black characters? You will be properly judged. Are you a famous dance instructor who has openly and repeatedly treated your Black students more unfavorably than the rest? If you’re Dance Moms’ Abby Lee Miller, then you will be held accountable, even if your privilege has allowed you to create a whole brand with your patently awful behavior.
When the reality star, like many other celebrities, rushed to Instagram to post her black square of performative support, Dance Mom alum Adriana Smith was quick to point out Miller’s hypocrisy, citing details of her and her daughter Kamryn’s experience.
“I couldn’t think of a more perfect day to address my experience with Abby Lee Miller,” Smith writes in the slideshow’s caption. “I’m sure most people will say ‘why did you go on the show?’ Auditioned and booked the show why wouldn’t we go? Call me naive, I thought with cancer and jail time maybe she had changed just a little bit. Well #season8 proved that was a complete lie.” In the pages following, Smith details the comments that Miller made towards her off-camera, which include, “I know you grew up in the HOOD with only a box of 8 crayons, but I grew in the Country Club with a box of 64 – don’t be stupid,” and claims that production “needed a sprinkle of color,” which allegedly resulted in the Smith’s placement on show.
Miller issued a succinct apology via Twitter, where she makes little attempt to deny the claims against her (even though she does chalk her comments up to “ignorance” instead of simply “being a terrible person who should know better,” so take that however you’d like):
“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 tweeted. “To Kamryn, Adriana, and anyone else I’ve hurt, I am truly sorry. I realize that racism can come not just from hate, but also from ignorance. No matter the case, 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.”
The statement ostensibly checks a few of the necessary boxes of a decent apology—it (kind of) addresses the harm and the harmed, it takes ownership, and it promises, albeit vaguely, changed behavior. But there’s still one key element to a good “I’m sorry”: You have to say it to the person you’ve wronged. According to Smith, who reposted the statement with a caption explaining why she is refusing to accept the apology at this time, Miller never reached out to her personally, criticizing the apology as “disingenuous”: “My daughter and I have yet to hear directly from Abby Lee Miller. Moreover, she didn’t even bother to tag me or Kamryn in her post. How else would we know she apologized? My friends and peers informed me of the apology. How sincere could it be?! What happened to a phone call or at least a personal direct message?”
Per TheWrap, Lifetime has already pulled the summer special Abby’s Virtual Dance Off from its schedule with no plans to air it in the future, despite the apology. The network also confirms that its contract with Miller ended with the eighth season of Dance Moms and that she will not return, should they pursue a ninth.
Looking for ways to advocate for Black lives? Check out this list of resources by our sister site Lifehacker for ways to get involved.
25 Comments
*”that’s a shame” mouth click noise*you know, this topic would have been perfect for a Very Special Episode of……uh….Dance Moms.
This lady looks like she could be Paula Dean’s sister lol…………..then again, all white people look the same to me
She looks like she *ate* Paula Deen…
… with lots of “bootar”.
Paula Deen “I is what…”Abby Lee Miller: “Not anymore!”
Dammit, this is what I get for not reading the comments before commenting.
Morpheus spoke for us all
““ignorance” instead of simply “being a terrible person who should know better,””
Yeah, if only she’d chosen a word that is often associated with someone who says something really fucking stupid even though they should know better.
It’s on the tip of my tongue…I think it’s ignor-something.
This is not surprising at all.
Oh no! First a pandemic, the murder hornets, then race riots prompted by yet another innocent Black man murdered and NOW no Abby Lee Miller Lifetime special? Can 2020 possibly get any worse? Why was this cretin still on TV in the first place?
because Dance Moms are actually the wooooooorst
I want to comment but can you first explain to me what is Dance Moms, who are these people, why are there so many words in that Instagram post, and then a short summary of the article because it’s super long and I’m too drunk to read it, but not too drunk to have an opinion.
Lifetime had to cancel it, what were they going to do once Dance Moms fans found out that Abby was a terrible person?
Surprising absolutely. ALM seems to epitomize “Live, Laugh, Love” Karens who bemoan the lack of compassion and civility in the world but at the end of the day reliably vote for Trump and insist that Obama is Muslim.
She looks like 75% of the women at my mom’s church, so this is par for the course.
I grew up in a pretty rough, mostly-black neighborhood (well, until we moved), and I can assure you six-year-old Cliffy was the only kid in first grade who did *not* have the 64-color box of crayons.
This is good. It’s not perfect, because it has no threatening to poop in wigs, but it’s good enough to pass to the next round.
“I’m gonna shit in your box of crayons.”
Noooooooooooo. The horrible Dance Moms mom is a racist? I haven’t been this surprised since it turned out Ryan Adams was an asshole to women.
Who the fuck is this hibernated Paula Deen-looking Karen?
She’s always been fuckin racist. I haven’t watched that show in years but I distinctly remember her bullying a little Black girl into performing a hip hop routine instead of the ballet the girl wanted, over the objections of the mom. Also brought in a famous drag queen to convince the girl to go along with it.
If the best you’ve got is that you own more crayons than another person you most likely are not the superior individual you think you are.
Country Club? More evidence money can’t buy you class
She’s been racist on the show before, I’ve been told. I’m glad lifetime is canceling her special, but it pisses me off that some people are only just now being held accountable for their racism. She should’ve been canceled years ago.
“Properly judged”? While I cannot stand that sadistic sociopath, Miller, I don’t like the language and tone, lately, which is coming from many Black commentators and journalists. The White race seems to be on trial, without consideration for where their ancestors hail from or the CONTENT OF an INDIVIDUAL’S character – very much like the treatment Americans of color claim to rail against. It also bothers me that this big emotionally disturbed child abuser was rewarded, year after year by Lifetime & the entertainment industry, for terrorizing and psychologically scarring children, and it finally took some stupid comment perceived as racist (and rightly so), to finally get her sickness off of the air.