DENVER — Drake Solomon, the former performer behind the Denver Nuggets’ beloved SuperMascot Rocky, is suing Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for disability discrimination, according to court documentation obtained by Denver Sports.
It is, in part, a class-action lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday against KSE. Solomon’s lawyers at Rathod Mohamedbhai claim KSE created a hostile work environment once he returned from surgery, including retaliation, and that Solomon’s firing violated both the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) and Colorado’s Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act
Drake is the son of Kenn Solomon, who was the original person playing Rocky and turned the mascot into a Mile High City icon. Kenn served that role for more than 30 years before handing off the gig to his son. Kenn returned during the Nuggets’ 2022–23 championship season while Drake recovered from surgeries that ultimately led to a hip replacement.
Drake got the job full-time in 2021 but was diagnosed with avascular necrosis and underwent surgery to treat his condition during the 2022-23 season. He returned to performing as Rocky just 10 days later, but continued to experience hip pain. That led to a hip replacement during the 2023-24 season. Solomon claims that at this time, representatives from the team notified him that tryouts would be held for the job of Rocky due to the team’s concerns about his health.
Solomon says he quickly returned to work again and was healthy, but experienced a hostile work environment as well as a confirmation that the team would still be conducting try-outs for his position because he had “burned them last time.” Solomon was fired after the tryouts, which his attorneys say violated his rights under CADA.
His lawyers say the severance package he received “violates nearly every provision of the POWR Act. Because KSE may have violated the POWR Act each time it offered a severance agreement like the one given to Solomon, this part of the lawsuit is class-action and open to other former KSE employees who received severance packages since 2023.
The lawsuit lays out in detail how Solomon’s performances were not attended by supervisors, and that he continued to perform loyally despite the uncertainty about his future in the role.
Solomon began working for the team in 2012 as a trampoline dunker and served as Rocky’s backup, and assisted his father with the costume. In 2021, he won the job during a closed-door tryout for the role, where he was the only person invited.
Solomon says he got the initial bilateral core decompression surgery instead of a hip replacement so that he could return to his duties as Rocky quicker. But the pain was still there, and he later needed a full hip replacement anyway. He informed his bosses, Craig Dzaman and Steve Johnston, about his need for the second operation in February of 2024. Weeks later, the two and a KSE executive and human resources person informed Solomon of the future tryout for the job of Rocky, “regardless of the outcome” of his surgery. There had not been regular tryouts for Rocky in the past.
Solomon got medical leave in April and was scheduled to return exactly three months later — with plenty of time ahead of the 2024-25 season. Yet he came back even earlier in May, when he says he was treated with hostility.
Solomon claims that Johnston said he was “not comfortable” with Solomon being back in the building so soon after surgery, and sarcastically asked Solomon: “So, you can go dunk now?”
Despite good medical progress, the team told Solomon two weeks after his return that they would still hold tryouts, according to the lawsuit. Both Johnston and Dzaman said that Solomon would get a real shot at keeping the job, but Solomon had “burned them last time.”
Once coming back, Solomon says he successfully performed summer appearances as Rocky and invited both Dzaman and Johnston to attend many of those. The two never did come, the complaint says. And Solomon claims nobody from KSE ever asked him to demonstrate his abilities.
Both Johnston and Dzaman were judges for the tryouts, where Solomon says he performed all physical requirements for the Rocky gig and claims that he was even requested by KSE to show other applicants how to safely dunk.
Solomon was fired shortly after the tryout with no reason given. The lawsuit says KSE has since said that Solomon was not the highest-scoring applicant during the tryout.
The lawsuit says the decision to fire Solomon violates the employee protections since he was an individual with a disability. His lawyers say that KSE knew of the disability and firing him violated CADA.
The lawsuit says that, as a “direct result of KSE’s actions, Mr. Solomon has suffered significant injuries, damages, and losses to be determined at trial.”
And says later, that Johnston and Dzaman “aided, abetted, incited, and compelled KSE to terminate Mr. Solomon on the basis of disability and/or perceived disability and retaliated against Solomon because of his protected activities.” Both men are named in the lawsuits as defendants.
In addition to Solomon’s individual claims, he claims KSE has violated the POWR Act for employees presented with a similar severance agreement after Aug. 7, 2023.
And if you’re thinking Rocky’s made of money, what does the man need a severance package for? Well, the report claiming the person inside the costume took home over six figures is false. Court documents show Solomon was only earning $70,000 a year as a base salary for performing as Rocky, with additional appearance fees ranging on average from $15,000 to $20,000 annually.
