Unnecessary Roughness: 'DWTS' Slammed by Alum for Casting NFL Star and Convicted Child Abuser Adrian Peterson

Dancing with the Stars is being called Dancing with the Abuser after a former alum slammed the show for casting troubled NFL running back Adrian Peterson for its 32nd season, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Over the years, the former Minnesota Vikings player has been indicted for harshly disciplining his then 4-year-old son with a switch and a 2022 arrest for allegedly battering his wife, Ashley Brown, on a plane shortly before taking off from LAX.

The decision to cast the heavy-handed Heisman Trophy runner sent season 27 Mirrorball winner Sharna Burgess into a rampaging rant on her Old-ish podcast where she ripped the show’s producers for its tone-deaf decision.

“There’s one person that I would love to share I’m really shocked is on there, which is Adrian Peterson, a football player,” Burgess said on the podcast she hosts with boyfriend and former DWTS partner Brian Austin Green.

“I had some people reach out to me and say, ‘Have you seen this? Do you know his history?’ I looked it up. The man has been charged with child abuse of his 4-year-old son, in the way that he punishes him. That is just devastating for me.”

Even though Burgess is not competing this season, she made it clear she would never tango with Peterson on live television.

“I’m telling you now if I walked into a room and that was my partner, I would turn around and walk right back out,” she said. “There is no way — now being a mother — I would be able to stomach that. But him aside, the rest of the cast looks incredible.”

As RadarOnline.com reported, Peterson was indicted in 2014 for negligent injury to a child after using a thin branch to whip his son, leaving behind cuts and bruises throughout the body’s body.

Peterson, 38, eventually pled out to a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and fined $4k. He was placed on one-year probation and slapped with a one-year suspension by the NFL for violating the child abuse rules.

In 2018, the seemingly unrepentant Peterson admitted he whacked his son with a belt.

"I had to discipline my son and spank him the other day with a belt," Peterson told the Bleacher Report.

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Last year, Peterson was in handcuffs again on felony domestic violence charges after his Houston-bound jet returned to the gate at LAX following a disturbance with his wife, who had a small mark on her face.

Peterson was never charged, and his rep told TMZ: "Earlier today Adrian and his wife Ashley had a verbal argument on a flight, and he was removed from the plane. This is a private misunderstanding between husband and wife, and we anticipate it will all be resolved shortly."