Ex ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ pro James Jordan has clashed with Danny John-Jules and his wife over comments he made about the former contestant’s mother.
Danny’s mum was in the audience to watch him perform a salsa this weekend, but in a now-deleted tweet, James said she looked as “miserable as him”.
After seeing the offensive tweet, Danny’s wife Petula immediately hit back telling James: “Out of order! Attacking an elderly woman who has done nothing to you! ’You know nothing about our personal lives! That is below the belt!!! Love and light to you.”
James responded: “I just stated facts… said what everyone was thinking. Not attacking anyone. She did look miserable when the camera was on her, but I’m sure she is a lovely lady. ’No malice intended But everyone gets offended over everything nowadays.”
Danny, who left the competition this weekend after losing out to Graeme Swann in the dance-off, also blasted James on Twitter, highlighting that his elderly mother has Alzheimer’s.
“So you take the piss out of an 82 YO woman with Alzheimers #BigMan,” Danny tweeted.
James later responded with a screen grab of a text message from Danny’s wife, and told him: “Your lovely wife also wrote this to me after she asked me to follow her. I did so because there was no malice.
“Remember Danny I have a lot of friends on Strictly so please stop using this to overshadow the person you are.”
In the message, the pair appear to clear the air with each other. Petula’s message read: “I hear you..All I say is if Amy told you directly that he was nasty to her then I will hold my hands up.. Until then maybe save your judgement???
“And yes I know you comment on Strictly and it’s not intentionally personal…I will refrain from bothering you now…but I thank you for taking a moment out to converse with me. All the best Xx.”
But after James made her message public, Petula told James: “1. I asked you to DM me 2. I simply asked you to be more mindful and did it civilly 3. This message was meant to be private.”
It’s been a difficult week for Danny both on and off the dance floor, after an “intense” moment during rehearsals led to reports that he was on his “final warning” from ‘Strictly’ bosses for “bullying” his ‘Strictly’ partner.
After an insider told HuffPost UK that no such warning had been given, Danny later spoke out to imply that such stories written about him were rooted in racism.
Danny and Amy went on to address the subject during an interview on ‘Strictly’ spin-off show ‘It Takes Two’, in which they insisted that the actor was not a “bully”.
Following this, Danny later suggested there was a “vendetta” against him, saying: “My [conscience] is clear over all of it. It seems to be turning into a vendetta.
“For some reason, some people don’t want me to be successful on Strictly. It’s more than just a Strictly story. This is personal.”
The remaining eight couples will return to ‘Strictly’ next week, for the show’s annual special aired live from Blackpool Tower, kicking off on Saturday night at 6.45pm on BBC One.