Former ‘DWTS’ Host Tom Bergeron Told Execs Not to Get Political, Then Got ‘Betrayed’ by Sean Spicer Casting: ‘They Had Screwed Me. I’m Gonna Screw Them’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Former “Dancing With the Stars” host Tom Bergeron reunited with dancer and franchise veteran Cheryl Burke on the latter’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast (via Entertainment Weekly) and reflected on his tumultuous exit from the long-running ABC reality competition series.

Bergeron was the original host of the program and led the show for 28 seasons. He parted ways with “DWTS” after the 2019 season because the show executives did not listen to his advice about staying out of politics and cast Sean Spicer, the hugely controversial former press secretary for President Donald Trump, to compete. “In the summer of 2019, I had two lunches — one with that showrunner person and another one with his boss,” Bergeron remembered. “I said, ‘Well look, 2019 is the threshold to an election year in America, we are a very divided country.

Just nobody, of any party, don’t go there — just make us the wonderful escape from all that divisiveness for two hours a week.” “And then a few weeks later, I get a phone call,” he continued. “And they rundown the list of who is going to be on the show, and this former showrunner says to me, ‘You might want to sit down for this last one.’ And then they told me who it was, the former press guy for Trump.