Two former members of the Sacramento Kings dance group are suing the NBA team claiming they were harassed by a choreographer and not selected to return this season after reporting concerns about his conduct.
Matthew Day, the choreographer, is also named as a defendant in the case, which was filed Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court. In an interview he called the allegations “lies.”
The dancers bringing the case are not named. One of the women, who joined the group in August of last year, claimed Day inappropriately touched other dancers. According to the filing, she feared Day would do the same to her. She alleges she reported the concerns to the Kings’ human resources department, but troubling conduct continued.
Later, the dancer said Day sent her messages on Instagram inviting her to his private dance practice. She said she told her coach about the invitation and that she was unconformable Day was filming dancers during practice.
The other dancer, who also joined the team last year, said Day would constantly call her “love” and that he wanted to use her photos to “book her a job” outside the Kings. The dancer said she complained to her coach, who forwarded the concerns to the human resources department. She alleges no action was taken in response.
Day, in the interview, claimed the job was to be part of a group of dancers performing at the birthday party for a person in their 90s.
“All of this is false,” he said.
In a statement, the Kings said: “We take all allegations of harassment seriously. The organization does not comment on active litigation.”
Both dancers said in the lawsuit they attended auditions for this year’s season and that Day was a judge. One of the women said she was not allowed to modify a part of the try out despite having a disability, which she believes the judges were aware of.
Neither woman made the team. Both said in the court filing they believe they were not selected in retaliation for complaining about Day.
“There was no retaliation against anybody for any reason,” Day said.
The suit seeks unspecified damages including unpaid wages and loss of earnings, as well as damages related to emotional stress.
This story was originally published October 31, 2023 1:12 PM.
