Matthew Morrison Shared The Only Message He Sent A Dancer, Which Reportedly Got Him Fired From “So You Think You Can Dance”
This week, news broke that Matthew Morrison was fired from So You Think You Can Dance as a judge.
People reported that Matthew — who's married to actor Renee Puente — made a female contestant uncomfortable with messages he sent on social media. "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," they added.
Matthew addressed the situation last week in a statement to People. He said:
"Having the opportunity to be a judge on So You Think You Can Dance was an incredible honor 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."
But now that the news of his firing seems to have gone viral on social media, Matthew has addressed the situation further on Instagram to defend himself.
"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," the 43-year-old Glee actor said.
“So, in the interest of transparency, I will read to you the one message that I wrote to a dancer on the show.”
Matthew 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," Matthew said, signaling the end of the message.
"I sent this because this dancer and I share a mutual respect for a choreographer that I have known for over 20 years, and I was trying to help her get a job as a choreographer on the show," he continued.
"It’s devastating that we live in this world where gossip rules and people’s lives are being thrown around as clickbait," Matthew added. "I think this is much bigger than me — this story. Gossip is toxic, and it is destroying our society. 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," he concluded. "And I genuinely wish all the contestants and my fellow judges all the best."
