Rap Legend Flavor Flav Explains Controversial 'Dancing with the Stars' Scoring Decision

Flavor Flav found himself as a guest judge on this week's episode of Dancing with the Stars Tuesday night, and he wound up becoming a bigger part of the story than he likely anticipated or wanted to be.

Social media influencer Alix Earle and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy, were one of the first couples to perform on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night, performing a paso doble to Bon Jovi's 1980s hit "Livin' on a Prayer." All three full-time DWTS judges--Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli--gave Earle and Chmerkovskiy 10s, but Flav curiously only rated their routine a '9,' which prevented a perfect score.

The curious decision drew immediate pushback from fans, and looked even weirder when Flav later gave the same score to Andy Richter, who has consistently been one of the weaker performers.

There's an explanation for what happened though, Flav explained on X/Twitter after the show.

Computer problems for Flavor Flav

According to the Public Enemy performer, Earle should have gotten a perfect 10, but he had a mishap with the show's scoring equipment.

"As a judge on #DWTS,,, you hit your score on a computer first,,, then hold up the sign," Flav wrote. "I accidentally hit 9 for someone and told the crew I meant to hit 10,,, and they said they can’t change it and there’s nothing I can do. That girl deserved perfect 10s."

It is true that when it came time for Flav to reveal his rating, the 66-year-old rapper hesitated, and clearly looked like he was having a problem with something. This is what it was, apparently.

"Y’all saw me looking down at the computer confused and couldn’t get the words out because I was watching the computer and then couldn’t find the other paddle cuz I was ready to go with my 10," he added.

Flav also said he apologized to Earle afterwards and the 24-year-old TikTok star was "cool." Despite the Flav error, Earle and Chmerkovskiy tied for the top score of the night with a 39.

Back-to-back weeks of judging controversies for Earle

Earle has been one of the top contestants so far this season, but has now had consecutive shows with judge-related drama.

On the Oct. 28 episode of DWTS, guest judge Cheryl Burke gave Earle and Chmerkovskiy a '9' for their tango routine, which prompted the New Jersey native's stepmom, Ashley Earle, to record a video on social media in which she implored Burke to "go take more Ozempic."

Burke fired back at Ashley Earle, who later apologized.

"I just wanted to jump on here and apologize for making comments that were insensitive in the heat of the competition," Ashley Earle said. "I always try to pick others up. If you follow me, you know that about me, I hope, and that's how we raise our children. I'm sorry that my actions did not reflect that.”