Matthew Morrison is pushing back on reports that followed his exit from So You Think You Can Dance.
One day after a source told People that Morrison was fired from the competition series for sending a female contestant “flirty” messages that made her “uncomfortable,” the Glee star insists that it’s all “blatantly untrue.”
In a video posted to Instagram, Morrison pushed back on the reports by reading aloud the message he claims is at the center of the controversy.
“I have nothing to hide”
“It’s really unfortunate that I have to sit here and defend myself and my family against blatantly untrue statements made anonymously, but I have nothing to hide. So, in the interest of transparency, I will read to you the one message I wrote to a dancer on the show.”
He claims the message said: “Hey, it’s Matthew. If you don’t mind, would love to get your number and talk you through some things.”
“The end,” he continued. “I sent this because this dancer and I both share a mutual respect for a choreographer that I’ve known for over 20 years and I was trying to help her get a job as a choreographer on the show.”
“I genuinely wish all the contestants and my fellow judges all the best.”
“It’s devastating that we live in this world where gossip rules and people’s lives are being thrown around as clickbait,” he said. “I think this is much bigger than me and this story. Gossip is toxic and it is destroying our society, and we need to do better.”
“And in no way do I want this to take away from the show because dance has always been a unifying and healing modality and I genuinely wish all the contestants and my fellow judges all the best.”
Conveniently, Morrison glosses over the fact that the dancer he sent the message to felt uncomfortable enough by him reaching out to report him to producers. As if that counts for nothing.
He should apologize to her. But clearly, he believes he did nothing wrong.
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“She felt uncomfortable with his line of comments.”
The “gossip” Morrison is pushing back on came from a source close to SYTYCD production who told People magazine that the judge was fired from the series “after he had an inappropriate relationship with a female contestant.”
“They didn’t have sex, but he reached out to her through flirty direct messages on social media,” the source said. “She felt uncomfortable with his line of comments and went to producers, who then got Fox involved. He was fired after they did their own investigation.”
The source says that Morrison and the unidentified female contestant “never met up off set.”
FOX will announce Morrison’s replacement soon
The initial report, dumped on the Friday before Memorial Day, said Morrison exited the show for “breaking production protocols” but did not go into any further detail.
“Having the opportunity to be a judge on So You Think You Can Dance was an incredible honor for me,” Morrison said in a statement. “Therefore, it is my deepest regret to inform you that I will be leaving the show.”
“After filming the audition rounds for the show and completing the selection of the 12 finalists, I did not follow competition production protocols, preventing me from being able to judge the competition fairly,” he explained. “I cannot apologize enough to all involved and I will be watching alongside you all on what I know will be one of the best seasons yet.”
Morrison will appear on next week’s already taped choreography round. FOX will announce a replacement on the panel before the show begins the next round on June 22.
