Matthew Morrison claims he was fired from So You Think You Can Dance after sending a single message to a female participant he was attempting to recruit for the show.
On Thursday, the 43-year-old actor released a one-minute video to his Instagram account, calling the “flirty texts” charges “blatantly wrong.” Morrison attempted to “clarify” the events that led to his removal from the dancing competition series last week in that video.
“It’s awful that I have to sit here and defend myself and my family against obviously false statements made anonymously,” Morrison added. “So, in the interest of honesty, I’ll read you the one message I sent to one of the show’s dancers.”
Morrison then took out his phone and read aloud from it “Hello, my name is Matthew. If you don’t mind, I’d want to have your phone number and go through some things with you.” The actor glanced into the camera after reading that text message and remarked, “The end.” Morrison later revealed why he texted that one person.
“I submitted this because this dancer and I both have a mutual regard for a choreographer I’ve known for over 20 years, and I was attempting to assist her in obtaining a job as a choreographer on the programme.”
Morrison went on to call the incident “toxic” talk that is “killing our culture.”
“It’s awful that we live in a world where gossip reigns supreme and people’s lives are used as clickbait,” he remarked. “This, I believe, is far bigger than me and my narrative. Gossip is poisonous, and it is wreaking havoc on our society. And we have to do a better job. And I don’t want anything to detract from the performance; dancing has always been a unifying and healing art form, and I really wish all of the contestants and my fellow judges the best of luck.”
ET has learned from a source that “Matthew was unaware of the no-contact clause in his SYTYCD judge’s contract. He has previous experience working on dance shows in the United Kingdom, where contestants were encouraged to collaborate. He didn’t believe this would be a problem.”
Morrison told Us Weekly last week that he left the show because he didn’t follow “competition production norms,” but he didn’t clarify. Us Weekly, citing a source, said the actor’s exit was due to a “small infringement.”
“Being a judge on So You Think You Can Dance was a great honour for me,” she said in the statement. “As a result, it is with great regret that I must notify you that I will be departing from the show.”
He said, “I did not follow competition production protocols after filming the show’s audition rounds and selecting the 12 finalists, prohibiting me from being able to judge the competition objectively. I sincerely apologise to everyone involved, and I will be watching with you all during what I am confident will be one of the best seasons yet.”
However, a source informed ET that Morrison was fired mere days later due to “uncomfortable” messages he made to a female candidate.
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“After a Fox internal inquiry, Matthew was fired from SYTYCD,” the insider added. “A female participant got communications from Matthew on social media and was disturbed by the tone of the messages. She brought this up to Fox management, who took it extremely seriously and decided that Matthew had exceeded the line after further investigation.”
“Fox has promised the competitor help and any additional resources she might require,” the insider added.
ET has reached out to Morrison’s representatives as well as Fox for comment.
