Valentin Chmerkovskiy, a dance pro in the hit TV series "Dancing With the Stars", has been sued in behalf of a teenaged girl with Down syndrome because of a commentary on childhood obesity he posted on social media. The lawsuit is for invasion of privacy, defamation and emotional distressafter the girl became the object of internet meme mockery.
According to TMZ, the suit asks for damages of $6 million from Chmerkovskiy, $6 million from CBS News for reposting the preexisting meme, and $600,000 from the person who shot the image. Chmerkovskiy has yet to respond to the lawsuit nor did his representative return a request for comment.
Page Six reports that in early January, Chmerkovskiy ran a post on his Facebook page of a meme of an overweight child with the text, "Letting your kid become obese should be considered child abuse." He captioned the image with his agreement to the statement and further said that being negligent to a child's nutrition should be a crime. The FB post has since been deleted and Chmerkovskiy said he never intended to offend anyone with any of his posts.
It turned out however that the photo was of a child with Down syndrome reports Newsday. Stephanie Mitchell of Robertson County, Tennessee, told a local radio station that her daughter Skylar Eden, now 16, was 9 or 10 when the photo used in the meme was taken by an unknown party. She said of Chmerkovskiy's post, "I couldn't believe it when I saw it; makes me wonder what kind of people are out there. It makes me sick."
Mitchell reportedly sent multiple emails to Chmerkovskiy asking him to delete the post and he responded with another post in part saying, "I am truly sorry for the lack of sensitivity.... You're handicapping your kid, and they're defenseless." According to the National Down Syndrome Society, the generic condition is associated with hypothyroidism that often leads to an increased likelihood of obesity.
