Sean Spicer To Compete In Upcoming Season Of ‘Dancing With The Stars’

Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, is returning to the spotlight to compete in the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars. 

Spicer, 47, drew much criticism and mockery during his tenure as President Donald Trump‘s first press secretary in 2017. Spicer was combative with White House correspondents and was known for making several false statements and exaggerations and for bumbling his way through news conferences.

Tom Bergeron, one of the hosts of the long-running reality television dance competition series, said he was upset about Spicer joining the show this season because he hoped that after a year-long break, DWTS would be a welcome distraction from the current tense and divided political landscape.

“Chief among them was my hope that DWTS, in its return following an unprecedented year-long hiatus, would be a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations. I left that lunch convinced we were in agreement,” Bergeron wrote in a statement he shared on Twitter.

“Subsequently (and rather obviously), a decision was made to, as we often say in Hollywood, ‘go in a different direction,'” he added.

Season 28 of Dancing With the Stars will premiere on September 16 on ABC. Among the other celebrities set to compete this season are two-time NBA champion Lamar Odom, former Bachelorette star Hannah Brown and supermodel Christie Brinkley. Queer Eye star Karamo Brown and Dawson’s Creek alum James Van Der Beek are also featured in the lineup this season.

On Wednesday morning, ABC announced the full lineup for this season of Dancing With the Stars on Good Morning America and Bergeron took the opportunity to take a dig at Spicer.

“The nice thing is, Sean will be in charge of assessing audience size,” Bergeron joked, referencing Spicer’s infamous gross exaggeration of the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration in his first White House press briefing.

Spicer also shared a tweet from pro-Trump Super PAC America First that wished him luck in the competition.

Spicer resigned from his position in the White House in July 2017 after just six months. He is the second former or current Trump official after Energy Secretary Rick Perry to join the Dancing With the Stars lineup. 

Since leaving the White House, Spicer published a book in July 2018 called The Briefing, which detailed his time in the Trump administration, and also mocked himself during a brief appearance at the 2017 Emmy Awards.