Lawsuit Claims New York City Ballet Bro Secretly Filmed Sexual Encounters, Joked About Abusing Dancers

A former principal dancer for the New York City Ballet is the subject of a lawsuit exposing a culture of sexual exploitation that implicates dancers and donors alike.

The New York Post reports that Chase Finlay is accused of secretly filming and photographing sexual encounters with his ex-girlfriend, former student Alexandra Waterbury, and sharing them with “other male dancers, employees, donors and even a pimp.” The lawsuit also claims Finlay exchanged text messages with an unnamed donor who suggested tying up the women ballet dancers and “abuse them like farm animals.”

Waterbury filed the Manhattan Supreme Court suit against both Finlay and the New York City Ballet, less than a week after the company announced that three male principals—Finlay, Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catazaro—will not perform in the upcoming season due to “inappropriate communications.”

From the New York Post:

The unnamed donor allegedly texted Finlay that “we should get like half a kilo and pour it over the ABT [American Ballet Theatre] girls and just violate them.”

He continued, “I bet we could tie some of them up and abuse them like farm animals.” Finlay answered, “or like the sluts they are,” according to court papers.

Inappropriate is one way to put it. Highly fucked up, Patrick Bateman-adjacent absurdity is far more accurate. As a result, the New York City Ballet suspended Ramasar and Catazaro without pay; Finlay resigned.