A former Denver Nuggets mascot has filed a lawsuit against the team’s owner, accusing the franchise of violating disability protection laws by firing him last year following a hip injury.
Drake Solomon, 31, is suing the Nuggets’ owner, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, on claims of disability, retaliation and two claims of aiding and abetting unfair employment practices against his supervisors, who are also named as defendants in the suit, according to USA Today.
Solomon is seeking unspecified damages from Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Denver District Court on Tuesday.
“Never wanted things to go down this way,” Solomon told CBS Colorado. “But there are things they could’ve handled better -- not just with me -- but with others as well.”
Solomon was hired to portray Rocky, the Nuggets’ team mascot, in 2021, nine years after he began working for the team as a trampoline dunk artist on the team’s Promo Squad in 2012. He assumed the role after his father served as the original Rocky for more than three decades.
However, Solomon was diagnosed with avascular necrosis – a painful bone condition caused by a lack of blood flow to bones, according to the Cleveland Clinic – during the 2022-23 NBA season, when the Nuggets won the NBA championship. He underwent surgery to treat the condition before later undergoing another surgery for double hip replacement.
The Nuggets told Solomon it would hold open tryouts for Rocky because of “his record of impairment and their lack of confidence in his health,” according to the filing.
When Solomon returned from his hip surgery, he said he was met with a “hostile work environment” and that the Nuggets were holding tryouts for Rocky because he “burned them last time,” the lawsuit states. The Nuggets later told Solomon he was being fired due to his performance during tryouts, which Solomon claims violates his rights under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, according to the suit.
Solomon says he was offered $20,000 and a non-disclosure agreement as part of his severance package, which he denied, CBS Colorado reports.
“It seemed sketchy to me,” Solomon said. “I wasn’t going to sign that.”
Solomon said he also believes other employees were offered similar severance packages, which attorneys say violate Colorado’s Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights Act, per CBS.
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