MATTHEW Morrison took to Instagram to clear the air after his unexpected firing as host on So You Think You Can Dance.
The Glee actor appears in only a few episodes of the show, all of which were taped prior to the text scandal.
On Thursday, days after he was fired from the dance competition series, Matthew took to Instagram to clear the air and set the record straight.
Looking straight into the camera, he said: “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 that I wrote to a dancer on the show.
“‘Hey, if you don’t mind would love to get your number and talk you through some things.'”
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He went on: “The end.
“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 her 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’s ruining our society and we need to do better.”
His message concluded with: “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.”
REASONING REVEALED
Earlier this week, news broke about why Matthew was let go by Fox.
PEOPLE revealed that the actor was fired less than two months after joining the dance competition series’ cast for having an “inappropriate relationship with a female contestant.”
A source told the outlet: “They didn’t have sex, but he reached out to her through flirty direct messages on social media.”
The insider went on: “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.”
According to PEOPLE’s source, Matthew and the contestant never met up outside of the set, but said that the messages “crossed the line.”
Matthew was previously engaged to Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause.
He’s now married to entrepreneur Renee Morrison and shares three children with her.
SUDDEN SIGNOFF
His exit from SYTYCD was announced on May 27 in a statement provided to Deadline.
It read: “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.”
He continued: “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.”
The statement ended: “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.”
it was unclear at the time of the statement which specific production protocol he had broken.
That didn’t stop fans of SYTYCD from speculating about the potential reasons for his sudden departure.
Some fans guessed that he might have “got too close to a contestant”, while others simply noted that his stint on the show was brief, given that he joined as a judge on April 4.
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As episodes of SYTYCD are pre-filmed, Matthew will still appear on-screen as a judge until mid-June.
However, according to Entertainment Weekly, an announcement on a replacement judge for the next part of the competition, beginning June 15, is expected to be made soon.
