Deborah Dugan Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

The Recording Academy has been under intense scrutiny since chief executive Deborah Dugan was put on leave earlier in January, and she has since alleged, among other things, that the nonprofit paid “exorbitant” legal fees to law firms including Greenberg Traurig, where the entertainment practice is led by power broker Joel Katz.But the academy isn’t the only music organization that puts on an awards show that Katz is involved in.

Taylor Swift decided to skip this year’s Grammy Awards and people are still trying to figure out why, especially considering she was even expected to perform at the ceremony. While the singer hasn’t made a public statement on the issue, many possible reasons have been reported.

Now that the Jan. 26 Grammy Awards are behind the Recording Academy, the bruised organization must figure out how to move forward in the wake of embattled president/CEO Deborah Dugan's allegations of voting irregularities, board conflicts of interest and financial improprieties in her Jan.

Much like watching the Grammys, complaining about “music’s biggest night” is an annual tradition. This year, the usual discussions about how the Recording Academy could do better took on particular urgency after the organization abruptly ousted CEO Deborah Dugan, who then filed a discrimination complaint alleging a “boy’s club” environment rife with sexual harassment, conflicts of interest, a rigged voting process, and a hushed-up rape accusation against her predecessor, Neil Portnow.

Dugan was placed on administrative leave earlier this month

After two days of quiet on the Recording Academy vs. Deborah Dugan front, the organization’s ousted CEO has asked to be released from the arbitration agreement she signed when she joined the Academy. The contract she signed upon joining the Academy last year requires her to arbitrate any disputes confidentially.

The 2020 Grammy Awards are over, but the turmoil between the Recording Academy and its embattled president/CEO, Deborah Dugan, rages on. And Dugan wants it to happen in plain sight. In a letter sent to the academy's executive committee of the board Wednesday (Jan. 29), Dugan asks to be rele

Sometimes there’s so much bad news that it’s wonderful to have a reason to celebrate, and in a weekend marred by Kobe Bryant’s death, the scandal surrounding the Recording Academy’s controversial ouster of president/CEO Deborah Dugan, presidential impeachment proceedings and more depressing stuff, the music business managed to push back the clouds and throw down on Grammy night.

Grammys 2020 made headlines when CEO Deborah Dugan was reportedly put on administrative leave on the charges of bullying by another office staff. Entertainment Tonight confirmed on January 24 that the Blank Space singer Taylor Swift will not be attending the 62nd annual Grammy Awards.

Every year, the Grammys have light fumes of scandal around them—often involving voters’ very white, very male, and/or very mothballed taste in music—but this year, things went full inferno.

Last week, ousted Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan took to the Grammys with a sledgehammer, alleging in an equal opportunity complaint that the Recording Academy is rife with rampant sexual misconduct, voter fraud, and racialised and gendered bias. It was a document that has already changed the music industry in a profound and irreversible way, and that probably will continue to do so in the future.

The biggest names in music gathered at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday night for the 2020 Grammys Awards. Although it was a ceremony marred by sadness (the death of Kobe Bryant) and controversy (the ousting of Grammy CEO Deborah Dugan), in the end it was all about the music.

Rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs took aim at the beleaguered Recording Academy bosses for their treatment of hip-hop acts as he accepted one of the organisation’s top prizes on Saturday (25Jan20).

The dumpster fire of controversy surrounding the Grammy Awards in the days since the Recording Academy abruptly ousted new president/CEO Deborah Dugan largely was kept offstage at the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala on Saturday night — at least until Diddy went in during a 50-minute-long speech, but you can read about that here.

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. 

Taylor Swift has reportedly pulled out of a surprise appearance at the Grammys on Sunday.

On the eve of music’s biggest night -- the 62nd Grammy Awards -- the most compelling drama may be unfolding offstage as the Recording Academy’s new CEO, Deborah Dugan, now on leave, squares off with the organization’s old guard in a verbal battle royale -- complete with high-powered lawyers -- featuring.

Deborah Dugan, 61, the former CEO of The Recording Academy, which presents the Grammy Awards, got a lot of attention this week when she spoke out against the organization and her predecessor, Neil Portnow, after she was put on leave from her job due to claims she bullied an assistant who worked for her. The successful businesswoman filed a 44 page complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Jan.

By Bruce Haring

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.

Among the many allegations in ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan’s blockbuster legal complaint, the one that possibly cuts most to the heart of the institution — and is of most concern to artists and the public — is the allegation that the nominating process is “rigged.” The example in the complaint points to the 2019 Best Song category, where an unidentified artist who was represented by a board member moved from the bottom of the shortlist to be a finalist — over Ariana Grande and Ed

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

Deborah Dugan, the exiled president and CEO of the Recording Academy, is right about at least one thing: There is an inherent conflict between the Academy's stated goals of being transparent, diverse and progressive.Starting in 1995, the final nominations in the "Big Four" categories -- album, record and song of the year plus best new artist -- have been decided by a select committee that reviews lists of the top vote-getters by rank-and-file members and selects the ones that it deems most

Days before the biggest music night commences, the Grammys 2020 is already surrounded by a set of controversies. For the unversed, the Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan was sacked just a few weeks ago before the annual awards show.

Among the many allegations in ousted Recording Academy chief Deborah Dugan’s bombshell complaint Tuesday was a claim that the nominations are marred by what she has described as “rigging.” The example in the complaint points to the 2019 Best Song category, where an unidentified artist who was represented by a board member moved from the bottom of the shortlist to be a finalist — over Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran.

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.

Deborah Dugan—the former Grammys president and CEO who was put on administrative leave following an allegation of misconduct from the former assistant of her predecessor, Neil Portnow—recently filed a complaint detailing her own allegations of sexual harassment, corruption, and racial discrimination within the Recording Academy.

By Erik Pedersen

After accusing the Recording Academy of a rigged Grammy Awards voting system on Good Morning America earlier today, ousted Academy chief Deborah Dugan headed to CBS This Morning to make a similar case.In the interview, Dugan discussed the 46-page discrimination complaint she filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday (Jan. 21) against the Academy.

Deborah Dugan, the ousted Grammys CEO who was placed on administrative leave last week, has said music's biggest awards are tainted because of conflicts of interest that infect how certain songs and artists are nominated.

Just how many people will tune into CBS on Sunday to watch the Grammy Awards? The question carries extra weight this year thanks to a bombshell complaint filed on Tuesday by Deborah Dugan, the suspended chief of the Recording Academy.In a 46-page discrimination charge lodged with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Dugan alleges she was sexually harassed by general counsel Joel Katz, one of the music industry's most powerful attorneys.

"There are incidents of conflicts of interest that taint the results"

Deborah Dugan spoke out for the first time since filing her explosive 46-page complaint — alleging rigging, gender bias and harassment — with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences on Tuesday.The suspended chief of the Recording Academy was placed on administrative leave last week just 10 days ahead of Sunday's Grammy Awards.

After Deborah Dugan, former president and CEO of the Recording Academy, was placed on administrative leave amid accusations of bullying, she filed a complaint outlining allegations of discrimination, sexual harassment, corruption, and much more.

Ousted Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan appeared on Thursday's Good Morning America (Jan. 23), where she detailed the reasons behind the discrimination complaint she filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Tuesday (Jan.