Michael Bolton decided not to walk away quietly from his abbreviated stint on Dancing With the Stars. The musician was eliminated Tuesday night after just two performances, and was extremely vocal about the treatment he received from judge Bruno Tonioli.
Bolton was so disgruntled after being given the boot that he blew off an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a ‘must attend’ event per each contestants contract.
DWTS Week 2 Performances and Elimination
A reporter caught up with Bolton for an interesting soundbite: “I was disappointed with Bruno — to me, he let everybody down. My mom was there, she’s 90, she flew down to see the show… and I just didn’t expect that level of disrespect from him. Even Len Goodman stopped him and said, ‘That’s inappropriate.'”
The 57-year-old crooner, who earned a 12 for his Hound Dog jive, summed it up with: “I think he should apologize publicly and he should be reprimanded for it.”
Last season Bruno made waves when he called Kate Gosselin‘s dancing skills “crap” during an interview.
UPDATE: It turns out DWTS exec’s are quite pleased with the way judge Bruno conducts himself in the course of critiquing dance performances.
A show producer told TMZ: “While we respect the feelings of our celebrities and dancers, we don’t feel Bruno should be expected to apologize for doing his job. Bruno’s role as a judge is to give his honest opinions on the quality of the dances he’s judging, which is what he did in this case.”
Check out a performance pic and Bolton’s critical comments on video below: