Val Chmerkovskiy Defends New ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pro Hailey Bills After She’s Dubbed “Nepo Baby”

The nepo baby discourse has reached Dancing with the Stars.

The longtime reality show’s newest pro, Hailey Bills, was recently given the label due to being the niece of longtime pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy—and Val hopped into the comments of an Instagram post from The Hollywood Reporter (which referred to Hailey as a nepo baby in an interview headline) to defend her.

“Ok well then I’ll speak up for her,” Val said in part, adding that Hailey “is not just qualified but by some metrics might be overqualified.” While Val noted that his niece has “a long way to go and grow for her,” he emphasized that the nepo baby label discredits “nearly 15 years of work at the highest level without a single handout, all the way to all-around best dancer titles numerous times, along with a quality and range of movement that speaks for itself.”

He ended his comment with “This girl is pure class as she should be, but then I’ll be the guy to advocate. There, also she’s the best and she’s my niece :)”

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During her interview, Hailey told THR “Of course, I work so hard in dance, but I think a huge factor into me being on the show is my aunt being Jenna Johnson. I have to give her the credit for that.”

She also said, “I’m proud to say I’m a nepo baby. Like, it’s just how it works, and I think a lot of us are, and that’s so lucky for us. I think I’m lucky to be a nepo baby. I’m lucky to have connections, but I don’t want that to downplay the fact that I and other people have worked really, really, really hard to get into this position. 1,000 percent; this is a cast of nepo babies, but I will say we’ve all worked extremely hard.”