Former ‘DWTS’ Pro Cheryl Burke Accuses Billy Ray Cyrus Of Kicking A Stage Manager During Rehearsal: “His Time Was Up After That”

Just days after audio leaked online of Billy Ray Cyrus verbally attacking his ex-wife Firerose, Cheryl Burke is weighing in with a bizarre story from her time starring with him on Dancing With The Stars.

Though she and the Hannah Montana actor weren’t partners at the time, Burke revealed on a recent episode of her podcast Sex, Lies and Spray Tans that she allegedly witnessed Cyrus “donkey kick” the stage manager during a dress rehearsal.

“I love Billy Ray. He was always so nice to me. But I have to tell you the story,” Burke said.

She explained, “We have dress rehearsal right before we go live, about two hours prior to the show, and we do this as if it’s the real thing, except it’s like an R-rated version because [host] Tom Bergeron would always just talk shit and it was so funny.”

Despite the lighthearted nature of the rehearsals, she explained, they were still expected to take the “dancing very seriously” and “get on our marks.”

She explained that the incident occurred when Cyrus kept ignoring a stage manager’s directions to “get on his mark” so “the director could light him.”

“[The stage manager had] been asking like three, four times by then, and Billy Ray kicked him out of nowhere. Straight up donkey kicked him,” Burke claimed.

Burke defended the stage manager on the podcast, noting that he had been “so nice” to Cyrus until then, though she did not identify who the crew member was.

“Don’t kick him, let alone, don’t kick anyone,” she said. “It turned into a hot mess. His time was up after that. It was not OK. It came out of nowhere.”

When Escosito asked if it was possible that the incident could have been “an accident,” Burke maintained that “it was very intentional.”

She added that Cyrus had been “getting crap from the judges” at the time. “Maybe he was nervous, but you can’t physically hurt somebody,” she said.

Cyrus was partnered with professional dancer Karina Smirnoff during his run on Season 4, while Burke competed with actor Ian Ziering. The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer faced some harsh criticism on the show. At one point, judge Bruno Tonioli even told Cyrus, “You are always deliciously awful… It was terrible. It was crap.”

On the podcast, Burke called out Cyrus’ lack of professionalism, noting, “You need to do your job. We’re not doing this for free either, by the way.”

This comes just days after the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer was caught berating his ex-wife, Firerose, on a leaked audio.

But the singer and actor doubled down on the audio in a statement shared on social media.

“Hell yeah I was at my wit’s end. As every day went by, I started realizing something was wrong. And that’s before I knew she was a fraud,” he wrote on his Instagram Story.