Rocky the Mountain Lion is suing the Denver Nuggets, or, well, the man behind the mascot’s mask is, claiming the team violated disability protection laws. That man, Drake Solomon, is seeking damages from Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the NBA team.
The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, alleges Solomon, 31, was fired after he took time off to heal from a hip injury. He had been diagnosed with a bone tissue condition, avascular necrosis, during the 2022-23 NBA season, according to the Colorado Sun. Avascular necrosis, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a disease that results from the temporary or permanent loss of blood supply to the bone.
He tried to return to work
The condition would eventually require Solomon to undergo multiple surgeries. After one such surgery, Solomon attempted to return to work as the Nuggets’ mascot Rocky, but still had too much hip pain. He would eventually end up needing a hip replacement procedure.
At that point, the basketball team began “holding tryouts for his position due to his record of impairment and their lack of confidence in his health.” Even after he recovered from the hip replacement surgery, Solomon alleges that he returned to a “hostile work environment.”
Drake Solomon had been serving as the Denver Nuggets’ mascot since 2021 after taking over the job from his father, who was the original Rocky for more than 30 years. He was officially fired by the Nuggets after the mascot tryouts were complete. The lawsuit claims the Nuggets violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and the Colorado Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights Act.
What he and the Nuggets are saying
“It was not easy to go ahead with this because I love the Nuggets,” Solomon told The Sun. “They’ve been my whole life and my family. For things to end the way they did it was pretty heartbreaking.”
He continued: “We loved Rocky our entire lives. We always looked at the Nuggets as a second family and Rocky as a second dad. For it to end so cold … it’s kind of like losing a family member. My dad was pretty devastated when he heard. He was the one that suggested I look into seeing what I can do to make some wrongs right.”
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Colorado Avalanche NHL team and Colorado Rapids MLS team, was asked by The Sun to comment on the lawsuit, but did not respond.
The post ‘Like Losing A Family Member’: The Denver Nuggets Are Being Sued By Their Mascot Rocky appeared first on BroBible.
‘Like Losing A Family Member’: The Denver Nuggets Are Being Sued By Their Mascot Rocky
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