Recording Academy Diversity Task Force Issues Blistering Statement in Wake of Deborah Dugan Allegations

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.

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.

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.

Dugan was placed on administrative leave earlier this month

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).

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.

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.)

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.

By Erik Pedersen

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.

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 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.

By Erik Pedersen

She was dismissed for apparent "misconduct" last week