Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by six massage therapists in an investigative story by the Baltimore Banner on Thursday.
Tucker released a statement on social media vehemently denying the allegations, and the Ravens said in their own statement that they “take any allegations of this nature seriously and will continue to monitor the situation.”
The Banner reporters who published the story said they received a tip Jan. 9 and began investigating the allegations. The six women who spoke to the news organization were kept anonymous out of their fear that the Ravens or their fans would retaliate.
Five accused Tucker of requesting that they “massage his pelvic region or inner thighs while he had an erection,” then proceeding to expose his genitals by moving the sheets laid over him. Two claimed that Tucker brushed them with his exposed penis, and three said that he left “a large wet spot” on their massage tables that they “strongly believed to be ejaculate.”
The alleged incidents took place between 2012 and 2016.
“The allegations in The Baltimore Banner article about me are unequivocally false,” Tucker wrote in a lengthy denial.
“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.”
The Banner’s story claimed that two Baltimore-area spas banned Tucker from returning, but Tucker’s attorneys deny that that is true. The attorneys also denied Tucker ever ejaculated at a spa.
“In accusing me of misconduct, the article takes innocuous, or ambiguous, interactions and skews them so far out of proportion they are no longer recognizable, and it presents vague insinuations as fact,” Tucker’s statement continued. “This is desperate tabloid fodder.”
Tucker retained the law firm Clare Locke and called them “the leading defamation law firm in the U.S.”
“As a matter of principle, I respect when individuals come forward to report misconduct of any kind,” Tucker wrote. “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.”
An NFL spokesperson told ESPN that it was not aware of allegations against Tucker until the Banner contacted the league for their story.
Tucker, 35, is the most accurate field goal kicker in league history (89.1 percent) and the longest-tenured member of the Ravens. He has spent his entire 13-year career (2012-24) with Baltimore.
–Field Level Media
