Matthew Morrison hits out at ‘blatantly untrue’ allegations after So You Think You Can Dance exit

Matthew Morrison has denied accusations of inappropriate behaviour on the So You Think You Can Dance set.

After the 43-year-old actor announced his exit from the dance show last week, a source claiming to be close to the show alleged that Morrison was “fired” from the series over “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 told People.

“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 said Morrison and the unidentified female contestant “never met up off-set.”

“It was just messages that crossed the line,” they claimed.

On Friday (3 June), Morrison vehemently denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour while working on the show.

“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,” he said in a video posted to Instagram.

“So, in the interest of transparency, I will read to you the one message I wrote to a dancer on the show.”

He then read the alleged message: “Hey, it’s Matthew. If you don’t mind, would love to get your number and talk you through some things.”

“The end,” he said after reading the message. “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.

“It’s devastating that we live in this world where gossip rules and people’s lives are being thrown around as clickbait. 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.”

In last week’s statement, Morisson announced: “Having the opportunity to be a judge on So You Think You Can Dance was an incredible honour for me. 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.”

Morrison did not elaborate on what the “production protocols” in question were.

The Independent has reached out to a Fox representative for comment.

Morrison had been part of a new panel of judges for the 17th season of the hit dancing competition, appearing alongside Jojo Siwa, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, and returning host Cat Deeley.