Maks Chmerkovskiy Put Kirstie Alley On Blast Over Her Ukraine Comments

Maks Chmerkovskiy is most well-known for his participation in the reality dance competition, "Dancing With the Stars." He also happens to be Ukranian-American, and is living in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he has been working on another reality competition show, "World of Dance UA," according to CNN. Currently, the dancer is using his first-hand experience of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to provide updates on Instagram. In a February 24 post, Chmerkovskiy uploaded a video in which he expressed how much he was hoping a war would be avoided, alongside a second video of a family appearing to be fleeing with their suitcases. In the accompanying caption, he wrote, "There's ALWAYS another way! WAR is NEVER an answer!"

The following day, Chmerkovskiy gave his Instagram followers another update in a two-part clip. In the first one, he stated, "I'm out here, again, I'm safe. We haven't been told to move, and I'm just following instructions. That's all I can say." He added that he feared the situation would become "much more aggressive" and that the country would see "a lot more casualties" if things weren't resolved soon. In the second clip, he confirmed to his fans that he wasn't trying to leave Ukraine yet.

Chmerkovskiy isn't the only celebrity using social media to express their views on the war. One of Chmerkovskiy's former dance partners on "Dancing With the Stars," actor Kirstie Alley, posted a controversial opinion to Twitter that led to Chmerkovskiy putting her on blast.

On February 25, Kirstie Alley took to Twitter to pen a now-deleted message in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, per People. "I don't know what's real or what is fake in this war," she wrote, adding, "So I won't be commenting. I'll pray instead." Maks Chmerkovskiy took a screenshot of her tweet before she deleted it and reposted it to an Instagram Story, in which he responded to her message with one of his own. The "Dancing With the Stars" performer first acknowledged her for "organizing trucks of aid during Hurricane Sandy" and her previous sympathy in "situations where innocent are suffering." However, he wasn't impressed that she wasn't extending that same mindset to the crisis going on in Ukraine. "That same energy is needed right now," he wrote. "No one needs your prayer if you don't know what's real or fake."

Alley defended her original tweet in a follow-up tweet. She wrote, "I'm sorry that I'm not an expert on APPARENTLY EVERYTHING," adding, "It's ok to admit you don't know things." This time, her own followers were the ones unwilling to accept her stance on the situation. In the comments section, a Twitter user told her, "This isn't complicated," while another commented, "Kristie, innocent children, men and women are dying, lost their homes, refugees. Imagine."