A new article from The Baltimore Banner reports that six massage therapists have accused Ravens kicker Justin Tucker of inappropriate behavior.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Tucker calls the allegations “unequivocally false.”
The report claims that he exposed his genitals, brushed two of them with his penis, and leaving what they believed to be ejaculate on the massage table after three of his treatments.
In the article, Tucker’s lawyers called the allegations speculative and “impossible to prove.”
“Mr. Tucker has never behaved inappropriately during any massage therapy session, and certainly never in the manner described” in the report, the lawyers said. “Any suggestion to the contrary is a fictitious and utterly baseless claim.”
Here is the full content of Tucker’s social-media statement denying the allegations:
“The allegations in The Baltimore Banner article about me are unequivocally false.
“Throughout my career as a professional athlete, I have always sought to conduct myself with the utmost professionalism. I have never before been accused of misconduct of any kind, and I have never been accused of acting inappropriately in front of a massage therapist or during a massage therapy session or during other bodywork. I have never received any complaints from a massage therapist, have never been dismissed from a massage therapy or bodywork session, and have never been told that I was not welcome at any spa or other place of business.
“In accusing me of misconduct, the article takes innocuous, or ambiguous, interactions and skews them so out of proportion they are no longer recognizable, and it presents vague insinuations as fact. This is desperate tabloid fodder.
“It is no surprise that the paper’s interactions with me were marked by journalistic failures at every turn. When I first learned that the newspaper was writing this article, they refused to reveal the full claims they were planning to make against me. It wasn’t until I was forced to hire the leading defamation law firm in the U.S. to write to the paper that they finally revealed what they were planning on writing. Then, when they did finally provide some of this information, they gave me next to no time to provide a response. It is clear why — they had no interest in what I (or anyone else) had to say.
“Once I reviewed the newspaper’s allegations against me, it was apparent that the newspaper was deliberately misconstruing events as nefarious (which were not) and were relying on third party speculation to create the false, preconceived narrative about me that they believed would generate clicks. The newspaper had already written this false, salacious profile well before ever attempting to speak to me or any of the bodywork professionals I have worked with closely for the better part of the last decade. The newspaper made no effort to interview these key witnesses until prompted to do so by my defamation attorney — because they did not want to hear what they had to say about me.
“I have always made a conscious effort to be considerate and respectful in all of the interactions with the community that I love so much. It is devastating for me to learn that anyone would feel I was offensive in any way. I maintain I did not act inappropriately at any point before, during, or after a professional bodywork treatment session. I would never intend to offend or hurt anyone, ever. As a matter of principle, I respect when individuals come forward to report misconduct of any kind. I support a process that allows claims to be properly investigated. But, for the sake of myself and my family, I cannot allow false claims to go unchallenged. I cannot be any clearer.
“These allegations are false and incredibly hurtful to both me and, more importantly, my family.”
No litigation has been filed against Tucker. His statement suggests that he’s at least contemplating litigation against The Baltimore Banner.
