Hope Solo v. Maksim Chmerkovskiy: “He Slapped Me”
Publicly calling someone a wife-beater is a weighty accusation, and you better be prepared for the foreseeable fallout. In Hope Solo’s new cheesily-titled memoir, ‘Going Solo: A Memoir of Hope,’ she accused her Dancing With the Stars partner, Maksim Chermovskiy of getting physical during rehearsals, saying, “He manhandled me in rehearsals from the start, pushing me, whacking my stomach, bending my arms roughly. I thought that was just how it went – how dancers worked with each other,” she said. “But it kept getting worse. One day, Maks was trying to put me in a certain position and hit my stomach so hard with his open palm that I had a red hand-print there for the rest of the day.” In response, Maksim told TMZ that’s he’s shocked by the accusations, given that he’s had a post-show friendship with Solo. He later tweeted, “Always hated hypocrites and liars…but when someone is both AND an opportunist, I just feel bad for them. Can’t win at someone’s expense.” I’m not sure who to believe here, but I’ve previously made note of Maksim’s relatively aggressive teaching style (see the video below). But given that Hope Solo recently tweeted Maksim asking him if he’d like tickets to the Olympics, I find her hypocrisy disturbing. Pick a side and stick with it. If you’re still willing to stay in contact and call someone a friend, then be careful about sinking his career with “he-hit-me” accusations.