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Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit

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Former Dancing with the Stars pro Louis Van Amstel was recently a guest on Cheryl Burke’s podcast Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans. During their conversation, he set the record straight about body-shaming remarks he allegedly made about fellow pro Lacey Schwimmer.

Louis Van Amstel Denies Body Shaming Lacey Schwimmer

Last month, Burke spoke to former pro Lacey Schwimmer about body shaming in the dance world. They discussed alleged comments made by Van Amstel and fellow pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy in 2008 about Schwimmer and Burke’s weight.

Van Amstel took to Instagram to say that he never talked about Burke or Schwimmer, adding that his words had been twisted for a juicy story. He even said the journalist in question had apologized to him for the situation.

“I never, ever even mentioned your name or Lacey’s name when I did an interview with Monica Rizzo,” Van Amstel told Burke on a new episode of her podcast. “I would never, ever body shame you, Lacey, or anyone else.”

He went on to explain that he had told the interviewer that all of the dancers had “put on weight during the summer tour.” He used himself as an example, because he would eat late at night after shows on the tour.

SEE ALSO: LOUIS VAN AMSTEL HINTS AT A POSSIBLE ‘DWTS’ RETURN

Van Amstel Confronted Burke About Using That Quote

Van Amstel told Burke that he had spoken to her about the issue in the past and explained that he never said those things. He asked Burke why she didn’t bring that up during her conversation with Schwimmer.

Burke said she was using the 2008 article to “start the conversation” about body shaming, and she never intended to “bash” Van Amstel.

“I couldn’t defend myself,” Van Amstel said about the podcast. “You didn’t say anything. So those people think, ‘Oh, I guess they said it.’ Because no one shared the contrary.”

Van Amstel told Burke that he would never speak negatively about someone’s weight, adding that he “would always defend people that are body shamed.”

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