The former 'Beverly Hills, 90210' star took to Instagram to call out the competition series for seemingly snubbing his fianceé.
Brian Austin Green is calling out Dancing With the Stars for seemingly snubbing his fianceé, Sharna Burgess. On Wednesday, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum took to Instagram to speak out about Burgess being left out of the special tribute to the late Len Goodman that ran during Tuesday's episode of the reality dance competition series.
Midway through Tuesday's episode, numerous former DWTS pros returned to the ballroom for a tribute to Goodman, who died in April at age 78 after serving as a judge on DWTS for nearly its entire history.
The dance included past and present pros, including Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Kym Johnson-Herjavec, Tony Dovolani, Jenna Johnson, Anna Trebunskaya, Edyta Śliwińska, Karina Smirnoff, Mark Ballas, Louis van Amstel, and Derek and Julianne Hough.
Johnson choreographed the routine with her husband and fellow dance pro, Val Chmerkovskiy.
Several fan favorites were noticeably missing from the emotional dance sequence, including Burgess. "I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was for @sharnaburgess to not be invited for the tribute last night," Green wrote about his partner, who previously revealed she was not invited back for season 32 of the show.
"It's disappointing as well that none of her 'family in the ballroom' stuck up for her or spoke out. She's an incredible soul and has always been a friend to everyone. She deserved better," he added, along with a heart emoji and the hashtag #familystickstogether.
The actor continued his message in the post's caption, writing, "She wasn’t even invited to sit in the stands and watch. Shame on that group of people. Kindness is an action, and so is love ❤️ @cherylburke should have been there as well."
Burgess took to her Instagram Stories to speak out about the situation, saying that being excluded from the tribute "hurt more" than not being invited back for season 32.
"My man has seen me be super upset (again) about the show I love. Last night was hard and he listened to me while I shared my heart," she wrote. "I haven't made a single comment publicly about the tribute because of a few reasons. Firstly. I know it's not about me it's about Len and the honor he deserved. Secondly. This hurt more than not being asked back and I'm working through it, thirdly. Sharing feelings on here often gets met with a few negative people who believe I didn't deserve to be there anyway. So why open myself up to it."
She continued: "But my man that loves me deeply and has listened to me share and cry had enough [a]nd shared his frustration. He like me, just [didn't] understand why. I love him for wanting to defend me even though he didnt need to. I would do the same no doubt we fight hardest for those we love when we tend to just take whatever is thrown at us in our own life."
Burgess went on to call the tribute "stunning" and tell her followers that she cried watching her former co-stars dancing for their late judge. "Tears of celebration and joy and gratitude for how much Len did for ballroom and for all of our careers," she concluded. "The performance was perfect and classic and technically brilliant. Val and Jenna created magic and Len absolutely would've loved it."
"Remember 2 things can be true. I can love and support the show, feel joy for those who were there, and also feel sad about me not being there," she added.
Ahead of the episode airing, Burke revealed on her Threads account that she "unfortunately...wasn’t invited" after fans asked about her participation in the tribute. Burke retired as a DWTS pro last November after 26 seasons.
"However, I'll be there in spirit and can’t wait to cheer my former colleagues on!" the dancer continued. "Sending love and light to everyone. 🤍🙏🏼 #riplen."
ET spoke with a few of the pros who took part in the tearful, heartfelt memorial -- including Val Chmerkovskiy, who opened up about the "amazing" musical routine.
"It was a lot of emotion to get the call and then, you know, your mind goes 100 different directions," Chmerkovskiy said. "But to be fair, that Band-Aid has been so far removed and there was such positive feelings towards the entire thing. At least for me, I enjoyed every second."
Johnson reflected on some of the challenges that came with choreographing the large-scale piece.
"It was a lot, and I think we had to kind of remove the emotion for a little bit and just structurally be like, 'How do we accomplish this?'" Johnson recalled of the dance. "With 12 couples on the stage that have never danced together before? We also had three hours to put it together. And we didn't get Derek and Julianne until yesterday. So it was just like so many moving parts. But I think what really brought it to life was the unity and the gratitude from all of us having the same purpose of doing it for Len."
"This was like our love letter to him," she added. "And I have to thank all of the dancers for making it come to life because it was just really more than I ever could have imagined."
In honor of the late judge, the show revealed that the iconic DWTS mirrorball trophy would be renamed in his memory as the Len Goodman Memorial Mirrorball Trophy.
Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+.
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