Celebrities Outraged After ABC's Lara Spencer Laughs at Prince George's Love of Ballet

"Good Morning America" host Lara Spencer giggled during a segment about Prince George's extracurricular activities on Friday.

"Young Prince George, just six years old, heading back to school like so many kids around the world but unlike other kids his age, it sounds like the third in line to the throne is in for quite a demanding year," Spencer said. "In addition to the usual first or second grade things, like math, science and history, the future King of England will be putting down the Play-Doh to take on religious studies, computer programming, poetry and ballet, among other things."

It was when she mentioned ballet that she, George Stephanopoulos and her other co-anchors started chuckling.

Celebrity dancers were outraged that Spencer appeared to be mocking the young boy for liking dance.

"This is not cool," said choreographer Debbie Allen, who shared her thoughts on Twitter.

Dear @LaraSpencer... #boysdancetoo #menwhodance #princegeorge pic.twitter.com/jpuOMYlfUL

— Debbie Allen (@msdebbieallen) August 23, 2019

Former "Dancing with the Stars" pro dancer Derek Hough shared his disappointment on Instagram.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I saw a clip from @goodmorningamerica this morning and I was pretty surprised by the tone of some comments towards dance. My initial response was disappointment. For a brief moment it brought up old unpleasant memories of being mocked and laughed at for being a boy who danced. Fortunately that feeling dissipated quickly in knowing that the climate of dance, especially for young men in this generation is thriving more than ever, celebrated and appreciated . A young boy training in an athletic art form that requires an insane amount of discipline, strength, agility, flexibility, speed, dedication, awareness of mind, body, soul and creativity doesn’t seem like something to laugh about . I understand that comments like the one made here on television were probably light hearted and just a little banter. I get it. I know everyone at gma including @lara.spencer and I’m sure the intention wasn’t to be hurtful. But I also just think we are in a new era and time, especially for dance and it’s perception. The tone and mockery towards dance is just dated, old and not relevant anymore. Those who mock don’t understand. I’m proud to be a dancer and I strongly encourage any, who would like to try. So if there are any young kids out there who have a passion to pursue dance, don’t be discouraged by those who might laugh or make fun, tease or taunt. Follow your passion, take a chance on yourself and remember, that when you are courageous enough to listen to your inner voice rather than the voices (that only you can allow) to tear you down, you will always win. Follow your bliss and you will always have the last laugh:) Nothing but love and encouragement ????#dance #encourage #create #dontHate #community

A post shared by  Derek Hough (@derekhough) on Aug 23, 2019 at 11:34am PDT

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I agree with Hough when he says it didn't seem like Spencer was trying to be "hurtful."

Still, the backlash was so fierce that she released the following apology.

"My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday," she wrote on Instagram. "From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions. Go climb your mountain—and love every minute of it."