Recording Academy Rejects Deborah Dugan's Arbitration Waiver Request, Will Waive Confidentiality Provision

The Recording Academy and its suspended CEO, Deborah Dugan, entered mediation on Thursday (Feb. 20) to negotiate a settlement, sources tell Billboard.Dugan, who worked as CEO for roughly six months, filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Jan.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

By Dade Hayes

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

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.

By Patrick Hipes, Erik Pedersen

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.