Light has been shed on Matthew Morrison's sudden departure from "So You Think You Can Dance."
On Friday, news broke that the Tony Award-nominated Broadway star, who was part of a new panel of judges for season 17 of the dance competition, was exiting the show. Now a source has revealed to People that he was fired after he had 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 added that Morrison and the unidentified female contestant "never met up off-set" and that it was a case of Morrison's messages that "crossed the line."
Morrison's departure from the show comes several days after the dance competition series aired its season 17 premiere. Last week the former judge said in a statement to People that he was leaving the show after failing to follow "competition production protocols."
"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," Morrison said.
"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," he continued. "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."
Most of the season's episodes had been pretaped, meaning that Morrison will likely still appear in the show through mid-June, Entertainment Weekly noted. An insider revealed to the outlet that a new judge is expected to be brought in for the next part of the competition, which begins June 15.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.