'I was called a basketball, a penguin and an Ewok': Chaz Bono blasts 'disrespectful' Dancing with the Stars judges for bullying him over his weight

The only child of Cher, 65 , and the late Sonny Bono, told Good Morning America: 'I was called a basketball, a penguin, an Ewok, and I just didn't appreciate it.'

Bono, who was joined by dancing partner Lacey Schwimmer, 23 , for the interview said he felt particularly attacked by Bruno Tonioli, 55 , who compared him to the flightless bird.

He said: 'If you want to critique my dancing and give me some constructive advice so I can try to improve the next time that I'm there, that would be great.'

'But I don't really know how to be less penguish, and so I kind of took offence to that.'

Bono, who earned a score of 19 out of a possible 30 on Monday night, also said he feels there is a gender divide between how overweight men and overweight women are treated on the show.

He mentioned the positive response from the judges to Kirstie Alley, 60 , on the last season.

'It's hard to take this competition seriously when the judges are so inconsistent,' he said.

'At the same time, we went out there and did what we needed to do and did it well and had a great time doing it.