Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer took to the “Dancing With the Stars” stage Monday night for the first time, wearing a bright yellow top, stunning viewers and disappointing judges.
One judge described his attempt at salsa dancing as making him look like he was being “attacked by a swarm of bees.”
On Twitter, the reactions had even more sting.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t see how it’s worth it,” wrote journalist Yashar Ali alongside a gif of the former White House official shaking the large frills on his neon costume.
Comedian Mike Shea tweeted at Spicer, “whichever producer picked that outfit for you DEFINITELY voted for Hillary in 2016.”
“To be clear, people aren’t deriding Spicer on DWTS because he’s GOP or he worked for Trump,” outlined the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake. “They’re doing it because he repeatedly said false/ridiculous things with a straight face and now is being afforded an opportunity to be a ‘Star’ not just despite that, but because of it.”
On Tuesday morning, MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough considered a clip of Spicer dancing before agreeing he was embodying a “go big or go home” mentality.
“This is a guy who did whatever Donald Trump told him to do because he thought he was serving the President of the United States and serving a greater good and at some point it got outrageous,” Scarborough observed while footage of Spicer’s dancing continued to play, Willie Geist laughed in the background, and Brzezinski muttered, “I can’t believe this …”
When it was announced Spicer was joining the cast earlier this summer, ABC News’ Tom Bergeron criticized the dancing competition show for the inclusion, arguing that “DWTS” should be a “joyful respite” from the “exhausting political climate.” Spicer downplayed the criticism at the time, saying he looked forward to “having some fun.”
A representative for Spicer told TheWrap, “Sean had a blast, and if you’re going to go on Dancing With the Stars you might as well do it in neon green, playing the bongos and dancing the salsa to the Spice Girls.”