Matthew Morrison Quashes Reports That He Had 'Inappropriate Relationship' With 'SYTYCD' Contestant

Matthew Morrison has quashed reports that he was fired from “So You Think You Can Dance” after having an “inappropriate relationship” with one of its female contestants.

The American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter posted an Instagram video Thursday to explain why he was fired, hitting back at claims that he was removed from the show over “flirty” messages he had sent to a contestant.

“It’s really unfortunate that to sit here and defend myself and my family against blatantly untrue statements made anonymously, but I have nothing to hide,” he said in the video. “So in the interest of transparency, I will read to you the one message that I wrote to a dancer on the show: ‘Hey, it’s Matthew. If you don’t mind, would love to get your number and talk you through some things.’”

Morrison explained he sent the message because he was trying to help a choreographer — for whom they “share a mutual respect” — get a job as a choreographer on the show. “It’s devastating where 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 in this story. Gossip 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,” he continued.

Morrison confirmed his exit from “SYTYCD” on May 27 following his failure to follow “competition production protocol.” It was later reported that he was fired after sending a female contestant “flirty direct messages on social media,” which reportedly made her uncomfortable.

A source allegedly said that while Morrison and the contestant “didn’t have sex,” Morrison reached out to her through inappropriate messages on social media. “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 anonymous source said.

Fox announced in April that Morrison would be one of the judges of “SYTYCD” this season, alongside Jojo Siwa and Stephen Boss. The network is expected to announce his replacement before the second leg of competitions begins on June 15.