We all screw up on social media from time to time. Who hasn't gotten into a political fight on Facebook with a family member or even accidentally liked an ex's photo while just innocently trying to stalk their Instagram, right? Usually, these blunders don't end up in a court of law, but Val Chmerkovskiy found himself in exactly that situation when he shared a meme of a young, overweight girl drinking a soda that had the text "Letting your kid become obese should be considered child abuse."
Setting aside the fact that fat-shaming is generally unacceptable, and is especially heartless when even indirectly aimed at a little kid, what Val didn't realize was that the girl in the meme photo has Down syndrome. According to People, her parents became aware of the meme when her sister "saw it on Chmerkovskiy's Facebook page." TMZ reported the girl's family sued Chmerkovskiy along with CBS, who also shared the meme, and the guy who took the photo for "defamation, emotional distress and invasion of privacy," to the tune of over $12 million dollars. So Val immediately apologized, right? Not exactly.
After removing the meme, Val went to Instagram to explain himself and said, in part, "I have no desire to discriminate or shame, I just think people should have a little more knowledge and take more responsibility when it comes to their children's diets." Some viewed it as a "Sorry, not sorry," kind of apology, and Val hasn't said much else on the subject. As of this writing, the lawsuit is still pending, and it hasn't stopped Maks and Val from completing a highly successful cross-country tour of their show, Maks & Val: Our Way, so the lesson here is if you're going to act like a jerk to kids, make sure you also happen to look terrific while swing dancing shirtless.
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