Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Sends Letter Promising Initiatives On Diversity And Inclusiveness

The Recording Academy says an investigation of ousted CEO Deborah Dugan’s claims of sexual harassment is underway, among other measures to address the firestorm of controversy that has emerged around the organization in recent weeks, according to a pair of memos from Board of Trustees head Harvey Mason Jr. The memos were distributed Thursday to elected leaders and leaked to members of the media, including Variety.

Embattled Recording Academy CEO/president Deborah Dugan’s allegation of sexual harassment against the Recording Academy’s general counsel, Greenberg Traurig’s Joel Katz, is “being independently investigated by a law firm with no previous ties to the Academy,” according to missives sent to the organization’s elected leaders by Academy interim CEO Harvey Mason Jr.  Thursday (Feb. 13). Mason, who is

The Recording Academy says an investigation of ousted CEO Deborah Dugan’s claims of sexual harassment is underway, among other measures to address the firestorm of controversy that has emerged around the organization in recent weeks, according to a pair of memos from Board of Trustees head Harvey Mason Jr. The memos were distributed Thursday to elected leaders and leaked to members of the media, including Variety.

While the media and industry have been focused on the turmoil at the Recording Academy sparked by the organization putting its President/CEO, Deborah Dugan, on administrative leave Jan. 16, academy staffers have been working toward meeting the recommendations made by the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.The Academy put the task force recommendations on its website Dec.

While the media and industry have been focused on the turmoil at the Recording Academy sparked by the organization putting its President/CEO, Deborah Dugan, on administrative leave on Jan. 16, academy staffers have been working toward meeting the recommendations made by the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.The Academy put the task force recommendations on its website on Dec.

In response to ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan’s request last week to be released from the arbitration agreement she signed when she took the job, the Academy has agreed to have the dispute heard publicly — however, that agreement is not as liberating as it at first sounds.

It’s been one week since the Grammy Awards, and for many people it’s taken a week even to begin to process all the things that happened in the deranged ten days leading up to the show, let alone try to figure out where things currently stand.

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 Recording Academy Task Force for Diversity and Inclusion, which issued a blistering statement Friday criticizing the Academy for failing to act on the recommendations put forward in its report last month, on Sunday morning issued a statement saying that it will “continue to work with the leadership at the Academy to urgently enact reforms that will last, including those outlined this morning by Board Chair Harvey Mason, Jr., which are a first step toward this renewed effort.”

The morning after Sean “Diddy” Combs admonished the Recording Academy to “get this shit together” at Saturday night’s (Jan. 25) Clive Davis and Recording Academy’s Pre-Grammy Gala, the 25,000 members of the organization woke to a missive from interim CEO and board chair Harvey Mason Jr.

Sean “Diddy” Combs slammed the Recording Academy before a star-studded crowd at the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala on Saturday night, saying that hip-hop and black music have “never been respected by the Grammys,” ironically as he accepted his award as the 2020 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons honoree at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.

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

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.

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.)

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.

Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan is booked to appear on tomorrow’s Good Morning America (Jan. 23), Billboard has confirmed. On the show, she's expected to detail her reasons behind why she filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Tuesday (Jan. 21) against the Academy, after she was placed on administrative leave on Jan. 16 amid allegations of workplace bullying.

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.

In the latest twist in the ongoing drama around the Recording Academy, ousted CEO Deborah Dugan will appear — live — on “Good Morning America” tomorrow, a rep at the network confirmed to Variety.

Raise your hand if you have major coat envy!

In suspended Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s blockbuster Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint filed Tuesday (Jan. 21) that includes allegations of sexual harassment, business improprieties and rape by the organization’s former chief, the most damaging claims in the long run may be about voting irregularities for the Grammy Awards.