NBC officials have confirmed singer Ryan Gallagher was kicked off U.S. talent show The Voice after breaching coronavirus safety protocols.
The wannabe exited the series last week, and now NBC executives have detailed the reason for his departure, explaining they "determined that Ryan could not participate in our Monday night show without potentially putting others at risk".
"We made the difficult decision to remove Ryan from the competition," a statement from the entertainment giant read.
But the star's representative, Michael Catalano, has denied Ryan broke COVID rules, explaining to Entertainment Tonight: "In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. Ryan understands all too well how serious the COVID-19 pandemic is in this country and around the world. In fact, recently Ryan's mother in Michigan was hospitalised with COVID-19 and was in ICU (Intensive Care) for three weeks."
The manager continued: "It was a scary time for Ryan and his family and he certainly would not knowingly put anyone at risk by not adhering to the show's COVID-19 policy. As you can imagine there is more to the story here than the show has announced and at an appropriate time and place of our choosing Ryan will respond to these damaging allegations."
He added: "Ryan, whose performing career began at age 15 as a back-up singer for Josh Groban in Michigan, has been devastated by the show's dismissal. A career as a singer/performer has been his life-long dream."
Gallagher was part of Kelly Clarkson's team of talent on The Voice.
