Andy Richter Condemns ‘Awful’ Things Written About ‘DWTS’ Competitor Hilaria Baldwin
Andy Richter is calling out online trolls who targeted his fellow Season 34 “Dancing with the Stars” competitor Hilaria Baldwin.
Richter shared a selfie video Oct. 8 on Instagram that showed him sitting in the driver’s seat of a car. At first, the 58-year-old comedian thanked fans for the “love and good will” they’ve shown him and his pro dance partner, Emma Slater, and added he was looking forward to performing the pair’s salsa next week.
Richter then went on to call out haters who’ve posted “awful, brutal things” about Baldwin, 41, who was eliminated on the show’s Oct. 7 episode after being ranked in the bottom three contestants alongside Richter and former “Boy Meets World” star Danielle Fishel.
“She went home last night and that sucks. You know, nobody on that show wants anybody to go home,” Richter said. “Everybody there works just as hard as everybody else and they all deserve to be there.”
“I just don’t know why people have to be so mean,” he went on, adding that he’d been on social media “a long time” and he knew “what the internet is like.”
In the past, Richter admitted, he’d “been involved in some of those pile-ons” of negativity. “Sometimes it’s fun to say terrible s—,” he reasoned.
“But these are people. With families and kids,” he said. “And these awful things that get said, they’re heard by real people and they hurt real people.”
Richter laughed in disbelief while reminding fans, “This is a dance contest.”
“It doesn’t make it satisfying to move on (to the next week round of he competition) when you see your fellow contestants being treated so sh—-,” he said.
“So, just please don’t be mean,” he concluded. “There’s enough meanness in the world and we don’t need it in a ballroom dance competition.”
Baldwin, who is the wife of actor Alec Baldwin, responded to Richter’s video in the comments of his post by writing, “Love you Andy.”
She also posted a message to her Instagram story about the video, thanking Richter directly.

“It means a lot that you are standing with me against bullies. It is a brave thing to do. I am grateful for your kindness and friendship. I can’t wait to cheer you all this coming Tuesday,” she wrote.
She also addressed behavior she characterized as “bullying” on the “Dancing with the Stars” podcast after her elimination.
“This has nothing to do with me and the dance competition, cause I love all the women who are on this and get to continue to dance tomorrow,” the yoga instructor said. “It has to do with what I’ve seen this past week with my name, with what people have done to me, and they don’t know me.”
Also this week, “Dancing with the Stars” pro Ezra Sosa came to the defense of his partner Jordan Chiles as she faced accusations of being a “mean girl.”
“Honestly, it couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said, in part.


