Chaz Bono was voted off “Dancing with the Stars” last night, after leading dancer Lacey Schwimmer in a “Phantom of the Opera” tango Monday and receiving the lowest score of the week. Now, judge Bruno Tonioli is under fire for making rude comments to the trangendered activist throughout his tenure on the show.
After learning that he was off the series, Bono gave a touching goodbye. “I came on this show because I wanted to show America a different kind of man,” he said. “I know that if there was somebody like me on TV when I was growing up, my whole life would have been different.”
While Bono said he was happy with his performance, he did reveal that he was not pleased with several comments made by Tonioli, specifically that his dance on Monday was like “watching a cute little penguin try to be a big, menacing bird of prey.” Earlier in the season, Tonioli compared him to a basketball and said another performance was like “watching a little Ewok dance with Princess Leia.”
Bono told Jimmy Kimmel that these words had hurt him. “Being compared to animals and round objects didn’t help me mature as a dancer,” he said.
Bono’s mother, Cher, came to his defense. “Every Show Needs A Grumpy Old Man,” she Tweeted, referring to Tonioli. “I Have Got 2Hold my TEMPER! … Your mom ‘could cut a (bleep)’ … Chaz, I’m SO PROUD OF U.”
Bono’s dancing partner, Schwimmer, also voiced dissatisfaction with Tonioli, saying yesterday, “It’s hard to hear your friend bullied by three people we are supposed to respect and called names like animals. It’s unnecessary, it’s rude … I actually lost it backstage. I was crying because I was so hurt.”
Chaz Bono was born Chastity Bono, the daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono. In 2008, Bono began female-to-male gender transition, legally changing both his gender and his name. “When I was really little, it was very clear to me that I felt like a boy,” Bono said to Oprah earlier this year, explaining his reasons for embarking on the transition. “It felt like my body was literally betraying me because I went from a very athletic, straight-up-and-down little kid to a very curvaceous woman, and it was just horrifying to me.”
Bono revealed to Oprah that his mom had a hard time with his transition. He said, “The hard thing for my mom, I think, is that because she’s a public figure and because she has this personality of kind of being so cool about stuff and progressive, people forget that she’s a parent.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation applauded Bono this morning for going on “Dancing with the Stars.” “Chaz bravely put on his dancing shoes and became a fan favorite, showing millions of viewers that he’s like any other guy,” said GLAAD President Mike Thompson. “Though it’s sad to see him go, Chaz has helped countless people better understand what it means to be transgender.”