Dancing With the Stars has seen a lot of questionable people on their dance floor over the years, but they have gone too far with their newest contestant Anna Delvey.
A classic American reality competition show that pairs celebrities up with professional dance partners to see who will come out on top, Dancing With the Stars (DWTS) has always toed the line of controversy when choosing their contestants throughout their nearly 20-year run.
Floyd Mayweather (a pro boxer and convicted perpetrator of domestic violence), Sean Spicer (former White House Press Secretary for Donald Trump) and even Carole Baskin (Tiger King star and suspect in the disappearance of her former husband Don Lewis) have all appeared on DWTS. But on Sept. 4, Anna Delvey — real name Anna Sorokin — was announced to be one of 13 “stars” competing for the Mirrorball trophy in the 33rd season of Dancing With the Stars.
Anna Delvey, whose listed profession on Google is “con artist,” was released from prison in 2021 after being incarcerated for travelling the world portraying herself as a European heiress to scam banks, lawyers and even a private jet company out of nearly $300,000 collectively.
Delvey was arrested in 2017 and convicted of grand larceny in the first, second and third degree. She was then sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, which she managed to whittle down due to good behaviour, with the stipulation that she had to pay restitution of about $199,000 to her victims. Yet almost immediately after her release, Delvey was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for violating the terms of her visa and is now stuck on house arrest while she fights her deportation case.
Debate surrounding Delvey’s actions started after the release of the popular Netflix show Inventing Anna, from which Delvey received $320,000, with some admiring her for her continued ambition “as if she represents some sort of warped American Dream.” This baffling praise for Delvey, who was born in the Soviet Union and is now a German citizen, has immensely frustrated many people.
Following the announcement that Delvey — whom ABC referred to as “an artist, fashion icon and infamous NYC socialite” in a press release — would be participating in the show, the internet set ablaze in response to the controversy. Among those who spoke out in criticism of Delvey’s inclusion on DWTS was Whoopi Goldberg, American actor and comedian.
“I think back to all the families who’ve had family members arrested by ICE,” Goldberg said on her talk show The View. “[Families] who have gone to the courts to get their dad or their mother or their brother back.”
“And this woman, they gave her permission to go do this. Now, should I think there’s a reason. Is there a two-tiered system here with ICE?” Goldberg said, referring to the amendments made to the conditions of Delvey’s house arrest that have allowed her to travel out of state to compete on DWTS.
The EGOT winner continued, saying, “I’m listening to people b**** about what’s going on at the border and I’m listening to people b****ing about who shouldn’t be here — well what the hell, man? How does that work?”
While her co-host pointed out that convicted felons Teresa Giudice, Lil’ Kim and Tommy Chung had also been on DWTS throughout the years, Goldberg still disagreed with Delvey’s participation on the show. “This is a f*** you in the face of a lot of people who have been trying to make their way back to this country and families [who have been] torn apart.”
Delvey has since responded to Goldberg, calling her a “nasty lady.”
While I care very little about the nuance of Delvey’s felonies, it is shocking to see how lenient ICE is being about the whole situation. This is especially disturbing during the height of the U.S. presidential campaign period, throughout which one of the key issues has been illegal immigration.
During the recent debate between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Trump referenced Springfield, a city in Ohio which has become the home to thousands of Haitian immigrants.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump falsely claimed. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
While this claim has since become a meme of sorts, Trump’s comment about the town’s immigrant population has led Springfield to be plagued with over 30 bomb threats. Most prudently, these threats have been directed at elementary and secondary schools as well as post-secondary institutions, resulting in various evacuations and shutdowns.
That’s why it is astonishing that in a political climate that continually villainizes immigrants, Anna Delvey, a felon who has been apprehended for overstaying her visa, is being allowed to compete on reality television. What is the difference between her, a convicted criminal, and someone who illegally crosses the border between the U.S. and Mexico? While both have committed crimes and both are unlawfully present in the United States, one is currently being paid thousands of dollars to compete on Dancing With the Stars and the other is being forcibly separated from their family and held against their will in a detention centre.
Despite all of this, DWTS continues to package Delvey as anything but what she is.
“Dancing With the Stars is a way for me to show people a different side of me,” Delvey said in the video shown before her dance, going on to proudly state that her “prior history shows that [she is] pretty determined,” and that her ‘determination’ is “a pretty good quality to channel into something positive.”
“I have reinvented myself many times,” Delvey concluded with a smirk on her face, “and this time I am going to be a ballroom dancer.”
If only it were that easy for everyone else.
