Deborah Dugan’s Attorneys Allege Neil Portnow Raped a Female Artist in Complaint Against Recording Academy

The Recording Academy has denied embattled president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s request for release from the arbitration agreement she signed before joining the nonprofit organization in August 2019, but says it is willing to waive its confidentiality provision -- meaning the process can play out publicly. As part of her employment contract, Dugan had agreed to arbitrate any future disputes between herself and the academy confidentially and in private.

Dugan was placed on administrative leave earlier this month

Ousted Recording Academy CEO/president Deborah Dugan’s attorneys are calling for her to be reinstated and for board chair Harvey Mason to step down if the organization is serious about reform. 

In the wake of the bombshell allegations included in the legal complaint from ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan — which includes allegations of sexual misconduct among many other improper practices — there’s more than a little sense of “Wasn’t all this supposed to be fixed two years ago?” After former Grammy chief Neil Portnow’s ill-spoken 2018 comment to a Variety reporter that female musicians and executives need to “step up” in order to advance in the industry, the Academy launched a

Less than 48 hours before the Recording Academy starts handing out 84 Grammy Awards on Sunday, interim CEO and board chair Harvey Mason Jr. sent an email to the organization’s membership on Friday (Jan.

With multiple allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination leveled by Recording Academy president and CEO Deborah Dugan this week sending shockwaves through the industry, the Recording Academy Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion has issued a scathing statement calling on the organization’s board of trustees to step up. “As representatives from across the music community serving on the

In the wake of former Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow’s ill-spoken 2018 comment that female musicians and executives needed to “step up” in order to advance in the music industry, the organization formed a Task Force for Diversity and Inclusion, headed by Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff Tina Tchen, to identify and execute those objectives. Last month, it released a strongly-worded 47-page report identifying multiple areas for improvement at the Academy. (Read the full report here.)

Following ousted Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s accusations the organization’s voting procedures are “corrupt,” the organization's board chair and acting CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and chief awards office Bill Freimuth have released a statement ahead of Sunday’s Grammy Awards.

The four women on the eight-member executive committee for The Recording Academy’s board of directors released a statement Wednesday (Jan. 22) afternoon defending the organization. The statement, which went to the Recording Academy’s membership, is in response to allegations

Deborah Dugan’s ouster from the top job at the Recording Academy, just ten days before the Grammy Awards, was a shock to nearly everyone not directly involved in the decision. But according to multiple sources and the bombshell complaint her attorneys filed on Tuesday, she and the Academy establishment were working at cross purposes almost from the outset, and tensions had been escalating dramatically for months.

Neil Portnow, the former president and CEO of the Recording Academy, has strenuously denied an allegation of rape included in a complaint filed by his successor, Deborah Dugan. In a wide-ranging document filed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier this week, Dugan alleged that Portnow was fired from his role for raping a female musician.

Yesterday (January 21), Deborah Dugan, the outgoing Recording Academy president and CEO, filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discrimination complaint against her former employers. Along with allegations of abuse of power and corruption in the Recording Academy, the complaint included allegations of rape against Dugan’s predecessor Neil Portnow.

On Tuesday (Jan. 21), deposed Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan filed an incendiary complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging sexual harassment and discrimination against the organization.

Neil Portnow, the former chief of the Recording Academy, has been accused of raping a female artist by his successor, Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan, who was placed on an administrative leave days ago.

Neil Portnow, the former CEO/president of the Recording Academy has responded to the allegations made against him by current Recording Academy CEO/president Deborah Dugan in her explosive Equal Opportunity Employment Commission(EEOC) complaint Tuesday (Jan. 21) against the organization.The Recording Academy placed Dugan on adminstrative leave on Jan.

Former Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow has responded to the explosive complaint filed by his ousted successor Deborah Dugan.Dugan, who was placed on administrative leave amid allegations of workplace bullying just ahead of Sunday's Grammy Awards, filed a sexual harassment and discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences on Tuesday.Among the claims in the complaint, Dugan says the reason former CEO

By Erik Pedersen