Former White House Press Sec. Sean Spicer is throwing all caution to the wind. That’s right, he’ll be on the new season of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” along with supermodel Christie Brinkley and ABC’s “The Bachelorette” Hannah Brown. Another big name in the cast is Khloé Kardashian‘s ex, Lamar ‘I Nearly Died at a Brothel’ Odom.
The show has not unveiled the cast’s dancing partners.
“It’s time to have some fun,” Spicer, 47, tweeted. “Excited to join a great cast and show.”
Except “fun” may not be entirely what will happen. Some have seriously cautioned him not to do it. In 2017, Spicer turned the show down after much of the free world seemed to prickle at his existence after his time in the White House Briefing Room and all his spats with reporters. (RELATED: WH Press Sec. Flirts With Idea Of Appearing On ‘DWTS’) Spicer’s surprise cameo at the Emmys in the fall of 2017 was not exactly a smashing hit.
But is the right time now?
News of Spicer on the national dance floor is getting bystanders buzzing.
“Yep. It’s going to be bad,” a source in Washington’s vast news industry told me. “I feel sorry for him.”
Obviously it’s all fun and games until there’s backlash.
Spicer could also get booed off the stage, no matter how good his Cha-Cha is. Threats of total disaster are already looming.
“You will face a boycott,” wrote Scott Dworkin, co-founder and senior advisor of The Democratic Coalition and an alum in former President Obama‘s White House. “A big one. Of the show and of your entire network. And it will be well deserved. Folks will contact every advertiser you have and demand they stop running adds. So, good luck with all of that. The only smart move would be to replace him immediately.”
Mo Ryan, a freelancer for outlets such as NYT, The Hollywood Reporter and Vulture, had a poignant reaction to the news that included this one word: “Gross.”
She tweeted, “I will never think it’s an amusing diversion for Sean Spicer to be on Dancing with the Stars. He defended and lied about amoral, monstrous if not criminal policies and actions. Way to launder amorality, ABC. Gross.”
John Cooper, chairman of The Democratic Coalition, had an even sharper response. “More like #DancingToFascism. Screw you for helping to normalize Sean Spicer, @GMA.”
Charlotte Clymer, a press secretary for Human Rights Campaign, pulled out her broomstick Wednesday.
“For 6 months, Sean Spicer served as White House Press Secretary to the most vile ‘president’ in modern history,” she tweeted. “In that time, he repeatedly lied, obfuscated, and endorsed the badgering of a free press. He enabled hatred. He belongs on a public blacklist, not in a waltz.”
Since when did working for Trump eliminate someone from potentially making a fool of himself on a TV dancing show?
Which brings us to the matter of Spicer’s dancing skills.
“It’s no. I’ve got no rhythm. I wouldn’t do that to viewers,” Spicer told Townhall‘s Katie Pavlich on C-SPAN’s Book TV in 2018 on the topic of appearing on the show.
It makes cosmic sense that Spicer would get the offer after working for a reality show president. And he’s not the first Washingtonian to be featured on the show. Some may recall Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on the program in Season 3. He appeared in the same season as famed talk show host Jerry Springer. Notable crime correspondent Nancy Grace ventured on the show in Season 13, as did former talk show host Ricki Lake.
On the bright side, at least American Urban Radio White House Correspondent April Ryan won’t have to stalk Spicer with her phone’s videocamera. Now she can pop some popcorn and watch him on TV. (RELATED: April Ryan On The Prowl For Sean Spicer On White House Grounds)
Not everyone is so pessimistic about Spicer’s new role with “DWST.”
When I asked him for a comment, Washington paparazzo Mark Wilkins replied, “It’s going to be the Biggest Season Ever of Dancing with the Stars.”
Let’s hope he means that in the good sense of “biggest.”
The fun begins on September 16.