Recording Academy Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Grammy Awards are great, but the Recording Academy’s greatest contribution to the music industry is arguably MusiCares — its charitable foundation to support music industry workers in need.

As the music industry reels from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Recording Academy today appealed to Congress to “protect our nation’s musicians, performers, songwriters, and studio professionals,” particularly “self-employed gig workers,” who are impacted by the loss of income due to concert cancelations and other hardships.

In the wake coronavirus’ crushing impact on the music industry, the Recording Academy and its affiliated charitable foundation MusiCares have established the COVID-19 Relief Fund to help people in the music industry affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and subsequent cancellation of thousands of music events.

On Monday, the day that the Recording Academy officially terminated Deborah Dugan, interim boss Harvey Mason Jr. sat with the Los Angeles Times for his first interview since the organization’s former president/CEO was abruptly — and controversially — placed on administrative leave just 10 days before the Grammy Awards.

Deborah Dugan, who was placed on administrative leave from her post as chairman/CEO of the Recording Academy in January after accusations of “misconduct” toward a female employee sources say was her former assistant, has been terminated, the organization announced today in a letter to members.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fans have slammed Recording Academy bosses for leaving a host of prominent musicians, including two-time nominee Keith Flint, out of the Grammy Awards’ In Memoriam segment on Sunday.

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.”

Not five hours after Sean “Diddy” Combs said “black music has never been respected by the Grammys” and demanded that the Recording Academy “get this sh– together” at the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala, members received a 1,000-word memo from chief Harvey Mason Jr. laying out steps the organization plans to take to become more diverse and inclusive.

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

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

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.)

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.

Little relevant new information was unveiled in ousted Grammy CEO Deborah Dugan’s appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.

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.

Amid the multiple claims in former Recording Academy boss Deborah Dugan’s blockbuster complaint against the organization is a section that is deeply critical of the Grammy Awards nominating processes and essentially accuses it of insider dealing and corruption. Its allegations, if true, suggest worst-case scenarios, many involving the Board of Trustees that ultimately controls the Academy and the Awards, and may explain some of the more unexpected nomination choices over the years.

Neil Portnow, the former CEO of the Recording Academy, stepped down after being accused of raping an unnamed recording artist, according to a blockbuster claim filed on Tuesday by his successor.

UPDATED: As the war of words between the Recording Academy and ousted president/CEO Deborah Dugan continues to escalate, interim boss Harvey Mason Jr. today issued a statement to the Academy’s membership about Dugan’s alleged misconduct and warned about “leaks and misinformation.”

As the war of words between the Recording Academy and ousted president/CEO Deborah Dugan continues to escalate, interim boss Harvey Mason Jr. today issued a statement to the Academy’s membership about Dugan’s alleged misconduct and warned about “leaks and misinformation.”

In the latest twist in the increasingly bitter exit of Deborah Dugan from the Recording Academy after just five months, the ousted president/CEO is about to be sued by her former assistant, Claudine Little, and has retained former Harvey Weinstein attorney Patty Glaser to represent her, two sources tell Variety. The news was first reported by Showbiz 411, which said “the lawsuit would allege that Dugan caused an untenable situation in the executive offices that included verbal abuse and

Among the concerns listed in a memo sent to the Recording Academy’s head of HR by president/CEO Deborah Dugan before she was placed on administrative leave Thursday was an item about the organization’s “exorbitant and unnecessary” legal fees to outside law firms, according to sources familiar with the document.

“Change is afoot,” Deborah Dugan said more than once during interviews with Variety in the weeks before her shocking removal from her post as president/CEO of the Recording Academy after just five months on the job. During those conversations, Dugan spoke of changes she planned to make in the Academy’s staffing organization, its Board of Trustees and its reporting structure.

Chuck D, frontman of Public Enemy — who are receiving the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Grammys next week — posted a long statement on Instagram criticizing the Recording Academy over its sudden ousting of new president/CEO Deborah Dugan yesterday.

Less than 12 hours after news broke that Deborah Dugan had been placed on administrative leave from her post as president/CEO of the Recording Academy, her attorney fired back with a statement.

As the music industry reeled in the wake of Deborah Dugan’s sudden removal from her post as president/CEO of the Recording Academy on Thursday — a mere five months after she’d taken charge, and just ten days before the Grammy Awards — even insiders were stunned by the abruptness of the move and perplexed by the purported reasons for it. Whatever the cause, it threw the Academy, which was preparing for its first show under a new boss with big ideas, into chaos.