Sean Spicer Fires Back at Critics of His New Gig on Dancing With the Stars: ‘I’m Very Comfortable With Who I Am’

Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary and future contestant on Dancing With the Stars, responded to his critics in in interview with Mediaite.

“This is an opportunity to have some fun,” Spicer told Mediaite by phone on Wednesday evening.

Many who recall Spicer’s spectacular — and comically truth-challenged — performance as President Donald Trump’s first press secretary have responded to his inclusion in the cast of Dancing with outrage, criticizing what they see as ABC’s normalization of the controversial spokesman.

New York Times T.V. critic James Poniewozik, in a blistering piece characterizing Spicer as a professional liar, argued that to treat him “as a harmless joke is to whitewash the harm of what he did, which was to say things so absurdly false that he invited his political side to join him in denying their own eyeballs, to encourage people to believe that facts don’t matter if they hurt your team.”

“Letting Sean Spicer tango onto prime time this fall is not the largest disgrace of all time. But it’s still a disgrace,” Poniewozik wrote, ending his piece with an infamous Spicerism: “Period.”

“I’ve never really cared what they think,” Spicer told Mediaite of the New York Times. “I’m not going to care now.”

Spicer insisted he’s not joining the game show to normalize his past or, as Poniewozik put it, “tap-dance out of infamy.”

“He presupposes that’s what I want,” Spicer told Mediaite. “First of all I don’t really care what he wants or what the New York Times wants. I’m going out and having some fun. I’m going to enjoy myself, and if more people like me, than that’s great. I’m very happy with who I am. I’m very happy with the friends that I have. The idea that I need this to make myself feel better is preposterous. I’m in this because I enjoy it. I’m very comfortable with who I am, what I believe and who I support, and that’s it.”

Some of the criticism is coming from within ABC. Dancing host Tom Bergeron issued a statement Wednesday protesting Spicer’s inclusion in the 28th season, stating he had wished it would provide “a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate.”

“Tom’s been a great host for 28 seasons,” Spicer said when asked about Bergeron’s comments. “My hope is that the he sees how bringing diverse group of people can help instill a greater degree of stability and respect among people in this country.”

“My overall hope is that at the end of this season that Tom looks at this and says, bringing people together of very diverse backgrounds, whether it’s in politics or other areas, and allowing them to show America how we can engage in a really respectful and civil way, is actually a way to help bring the country together as opposed to bring it apart.”

Spicer explained that he was approached to join the cast of ABC’s show when he left the White House — after six months in the job of press secretary — in 2017. That wasn’t the right time, but now that his two political consultancy businesses are off the ground, he can juggle a dancing partner on television one night a week.

Spicer’s tenure as Trump’s press secretary was marred by a series of controversies ranging including offensively dishonest statements (most infamous was his claim about the president’s inauguration crowd size) to absurdist distortions borne out of being in the impossible position of having to defend the president at all costs. Since leaving the White House, he has penned a bestselling book and even tried his hand at entertainment reporting. Now, he’s returning to the political fore, pairing political consultancy with a job as a senior adviser at pro-Trump super PAC America First.

His politics haven’t changed, as you can imagine. He thinks Anthony Scaramucci — whose appointment to White House communication director prompted Spicer’s resignation as Trump’s press secretary — is “being used” by “people who hate the president” in his newfound role as Trump critic.

Trump “hasn’t changed,” Spicer said. “You may not agree with him but… He did every fucking thing that he said he was going to do.”

As for his dancing, Spicer told Mediaite he has no experience beyond a two “father-daughter dances,” but that he’s excited to try something new.

[Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images]