'Dancing With The Stars': Tyra Banks slammed for making Jeannie Mai's escaping Vietnam story 'about her'
Jeannie Mai has been vocal about her journey, and in the latest episode (October 19), she did not hold back in opening up about her journey to the US. The television host revealed her family fled to the US right after the Vietnam war. Jeannie admitted it had not been easy as when they were trying to escape, the Vietnam army got wind of it and started shooting at them.
While they managed to escape that, their worst fears came to life when Jeannie's uncle realized that the boat was filling up with water. He managed to rescue the boat and her family was saved by the US army. Jeannie revealed she wanted to achieve the American dream, and she is happy to finally have that with her.
As the performance started, Jeannie tried her best to control her emotions. One could see that she was teary-eyed as she performed the song. Taking inspiration from what had happened, Jeannie made sure her performance had all the emotions. As the song started, she did not fail to bring an emotional touch to the performance while making sure all the moves were sharp.
The judges were impressed by the performance and did not hold back from letting Jeannie know that. Derek Hough admitted that it was a good performance and he fell in love with her sharp leg moves. Bruno Tonioli noted that Jeannie's performance was sensual and she did a good job.
Meanwhile, Carrie Ann Inaba too thought that it was a wonderful performance. Carrie Ann and Derek gave her an 8 while Bruno gave a 9. While Jeannie had a good score, fans could not stop talking about Tyra Banks' comments. Seeing Jeannie emotional, Tyra admitted she had some tears in her eyes as well. At the same time, when Jeannie spoke in Vietnamese, Tyra commented on being shocked to see Jeannie speak in her language. Fans thought she was calling for attention.
One user wrote, "NOT TYRA SAYING 'I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE A POET' WHEN JEANNIE MAI WAS SPEAKING VIETNAMESE THANKING HER FAMILY FOR ESCAPING VIETNAM TO GIVE HER A BETTER LIFE." Another added, "Shew Tyra, GURL. Don't make Jeannie's moment about you. The fake tears dried up real fast didn't they?"
Another user commented, "Tyra: Jeannie you're crying for your family tonight..."I'm crying toooooo!" "Not Tyra acting shock that Jeannie speaks her own language she literally just told us her background," a viewer tweeted.
NOT TYRA SAYING “I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE A POET” WHEN JEANNIE MAI WAS SPEAKING VIETNAMESE THANKING HER FAMILY FOR ESCAPING VIETNAM TO GIVE HER A BETTER LIFE #DWTS
— teresa (@teresavu__) October 20, 2020
Shew Tyra, GURL. Don't make Jeannie's moment about you. The fake tears dried up real fast didn't they?🙄 #DWTS pic.twitter.com/E1AEhNpeNy
— Jess (@dazzle715) October 20, 2020
Tyra: Jeannie you're crying for your family tonight..."I'm crying toooooo!" #DWTS
— 🎃MarilynIsThatBxtch🎃#FREEBRITNEY (@shutupbitch25) October 20, 2020
not tyra acting shock that jeannie speaks her own language she literally just told us her background #DWTS pic.twitter.com/eP0xsaOaUi
— kay 🇯🇲🏝 (@islandrihu) October 20, 2020
'Dancing With The Stars' airs on Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC.