The New York City Ballet has been dropped from a lawsuit related to the sharing of explicit photos.

Alexandra Waterbury, a former student at the School of American Ballet, an affiliate academy of the New York City Ballet, sued the City Ballet and several other defendants. In her 2018 lawsuit, Waterbury alleges that the City Ballet condoned a culture that enabled “fraternity-like” behavior, fostering an atmosphere that allowed demeaning behavior toward women to occur. Waterbury contended that the company had shirked its responsibility to protect her.

According to news reports, Waterbury sued after discovering that her then boyfriend, Chase Finlay, a principal dancer with City Ballet, shared explicit photos and videos of her with other members of the company. Last month, 19 of Waterbury’s 20 claims were dismissed, with the State Supreme Court Judge in Manhattan ruling that City Ballet was not negligent in the handling of the situation and that it didn’t have a duty to protect Waterbury because she was not the company's student at the time. The only remaining defendant, Finlay,  recently offered an expansive rebuttal to Waterbury’s charges, acknowledging that he shared the photos but claiming he was the victim of abuse by Waterbury.

"Plaintiff’s emotional instability resulted in extraordinary fits of jealousy that would evolve into paroxysmal, violent rages and repeated physical attacks upon Mr. Finlay," the court filing said.

At the core of Finlay’s defense is the argument he never meant to cause Waterbury harm by sharing the images; Finlay claims, instead, that he was bragging to his friends.

"Mr. Finlay was frequently under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances when he sent the photographs but the dissemination was never done with malice," the court papers say.

Finlay has since left the company. Waterbury’s lawyer said there are plans to appeal.

—Source: thetodaynews.com