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<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>Explosive complaint filed by ousted Grammys boss accuses predecessor of rape that was covered by the Academy</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>Deborah Dugan alleges Neil Portnow RAPED a &#8216;foreign&#8217; female recording artist and the company turned a blind eye</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>Ousted Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan, 61, filed a discrimination complaint against the Recording Academy for gender discrimination and nomination corruption</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>Dugan, the Grammy&#8217;s first female CEO ever, was placed on administrative leave last week after just six months on the job </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>She also paints a portrait of systemic sleaze and rigging of the nominations process </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>The complaint alleges Grammy nomination process is conducted in secret where people with relationships with artists end up voting for the final candidates</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>She accused the academy of sexual misconduct, gender discrimination, and conflict of interest in her complaint, filed five days before Grammy Awards </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>She claims she was sexually harassed just as she was employed for the job by the company&#8217;s top entertainment lawyer Joel Katz </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #3b2828;"><strong>The academy has dismissed her allegations as coming only after shes was placed under investigation by the board </strong></span></h6>
<h6><strong><span style="color: #3b2828;">They also allege Dugan had demanded $22million to drop her accusations</span></strong></h6>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-340971" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Grammy-Awards-stage-1.png" alt="Grammy Awards stage 1" width="1085" height="661" />Is any of this real? Ousted CEO Deborah Dugan has alleged that the Recording Academy has a history of voting irregularity, as well as, a culture of sexism and sexual misconduct</strong></h6>
<div>Accusations and counter-accusations of sleaze, rigging and greed are flying at the Grammy&#8217;s is rife as Ousted Grammy&#8217;s CEO Deborah Dugan is lifting the lid on what goes on behind closed doors at the Recording Academy.<br />
Dugan says the Grammy Awards nomination process is rigged, the company rife with sexual misconduct, and her predecessor Neil Portnow allegedly raped an artist.<br />
Dugan, the Grammy&#8217;s first female CEO ever, was placed on administrative leave last week after just six months on the job following an allegation of misconduct by a senior leader in the organization.<br />
The 61-year-old now says that the academy is a &#8216;boys club&#8217; where her predecessor Neil Portnow allegedly raped an unidentified &#8216;foreign&#8217; female recording artist and the company knew about it.<br />
She filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday claiming she was removed due to gender discrimination and because she complained about sexual harassment, pay disparities, and conflicts of interest when it came to award nominations.<br />
Her complaint comes just five days before Sunday&#8217;s 62nd Grammy Awards, the biggest night in the music industry, and sheds light on how the ceremony is supposedly rigged.</div>
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<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-340987" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Deborag-Dugan-4.jpg" alt="Deborag Dugan 4" width="800" height="600" />Grammys first female CEO, Deborah Dugan [photo], who was recently ousted, claims the Recording Academy is a &#8216;boys club&#8217; that rigs nominations for the Grammy Awards, choosing artists who have business or personal relationships with the Board&#8217;s members </strong></h6>
<div>E<span class="mol-style-medium"><span class="news-ccox mol-style-bold">laborating on the rigged Grammy nominations system in a </span></span>44-page complaint, Dugan details &#8216;egregious conflicts of interest, improper self-dealing by Board members and voting irregularities with respect to nominations for Grammy Awards&#8217;.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">She alleges that the review committees oversee the award categories and rig the system in favor of artists, record labels and management firms that members have business deals with. Many of those members represent or have relationships with artists and manipulate who ends up nominated, she claims.<br />
&#8216;Rather than promoting a transparent nomination process the Board has decided to shroud the process in secrecy, and ultimately controls, in large part, who is nominated for Grammy Awards,&#8217; the complaint says.<br />
Just last year Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande had top 100 hits with their hits Perfect and Thank U Next, but both missed Song of the Year nominations despite raking in enough votes.<br />
For the plum top four awards she claims, while committees should select the final nominees from the top 20 contenders, based off ballots from its voting members.. instead the complaint alleges, committee members sometimes include artists who did not make it in the top 20 because of their personal or business relationships with those artists.<br />
&#8216;This year, 30 artists that were not selected by the membership were added to the possible nomination list,&#8217; the complaint filed by Dugan reads.<br />
She goes further to state that the board manipulates the process to ensure certain songs or albums are nominated if the show&#8217;s producer wants a specific performance to be included for the show.<br />
&#8216;The Board also manipulates the nominations process to ensure that certain songs or albums are nominated when the producer of the Grammys (Ken Ehrlich) wants a particular song performed on the show,&#8217; it adds.</p>
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><img class="alignnone wp-image-340980" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Neil-Portnow-1.png" alt="Neil Portnow 1" width="654" height="915" /><strong>Dugan has accused her predecessor Neil Portnow [photo], of sexual misconduct. Alleging that he raped an unidentified &#8216;foreign&#8217; female recording artist and the academy is aware of the incident. The Academy hit back Monday, alleging the accusations only surfaced after Dugan was placed under investigation</strong></h6>
<div class="mobile-gallery-icon">Dugan&#8217;s complaint comes just five days before Sunday&#8217;s 62nd Grammy Awards, the biggest night in the music industry, and sheds light on how the ceremony is supposedly rigged</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">The nomination system was so egregious, artists were permitted to sit on nomination committees, Dugan claims.<br />
&#8216;Moreover, in an outrageous conflict of interest, the Board has selected artists who are under consideration for a nomination to sit on the committee that is voting for the category for which that have been nominated. As a result, one artist who initially ranked 18 out of 20 in the 2019 &#8216;Song of the Year&#8217; category ended up with a nomination. This artist was actually permitted to sit on the &#8216;Song of the Year&#8217; nomination committee. Incredibly, this artist is also represented by a member of the Board,&#8217; the complaint states.<br />
The Recording Academy has not commented on the voting irregularity allegations.<br />
<span class="mol-style-medium"><span class="news-ccox mol-style-bold">Sexual harassment and misconduct<br />
</span></span>Nomination corruption aside, Dugan said the academy has a culture of sexual misconduct.<br />
Dugan claimed her predecessor Neil Portnow, raped an unidentified &#8216;foreign&#8217; female recording artist and the company knew about it.<br />
She said she learned of the allegation against Portnow in a May 2019 board meeting. She said the Board presented the information to her as if they just learned of it, but &#8216;in reality, they were well aware of the allegation at the time Ms. Dugan agreed to take on the CEO position, but never told her,&#8217; the complaint states.<br />
Adding a personal dimension to the charges of sexism, Dugan also claimed she was sexually harassed after taking up the job by Joel Katz, the company&#8217;s top entertainment lawyer.<br />
In the complaint, Dugan alleged that in May 2019, when she had accepted the CEO position but had not begun her work, she had dinner with Katz, the academy&#8217;s general counsel, alone at his request in Laguna Niguel, California, on the eve of a meeting of the academy board.</p>
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<h6 class="image-wrap fff-pic"><img class="alignnone wp-image-340978" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Joel-Katz-1.png" alt="Joel Katz 1" width="690" height="912" /><strong>Deborah Dugan alleges in her complaint that Joel Katz, [photo], the Academy&#8217;s top entertainment lawyer sexually harassed her just as she was about to assume her post as Grammys CEO. She reported the sexual harassment in an email to HR in Dec<br />
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">There, Katz acted &#8216;extremely inappropriately,&#8217; according to the complaint, calling Dugan &#8216;baby&#8217; and making &#8216;an obvious and unwelcome attempt to &#8220;woo&#8221; Ms. Dugan into a romantic relationship.&#8217;<br />
Dugan, the complaint said, made it clear she wasn&#8217;t interested and was in a relationship, but he still attempted to kiss her at the end of the night. She &#8216;quickly turned away, repulsed.&#8217; Katz continued the harassment in subsequent interactions, the complaint alleged.<br />
She reported the sexual harassment in an email to human resources on December 22, 2019.<br />
Katz &#8216;categorically and emphatically denies her version of that evening,&#8217; his attorney, Howard Weitzman, said in a statement. The statement said the dinner occurred two and a half months before Dugan started as CEO.<br />
&#8216;Mr. Katz believed they had a productive and professional meeting in a restaurant where a number of members of the board of trustees of the academy, and others, were dining,&#8217; Weitzman&#8217;s statement read.<br />
Dugan also contends Katz and his firm were paid inappropriately by the academy, and that his role representing both the academy and artists who are up for Grammys was a conflict of interest.<br />
<span class="mol-style-medium"><span class="mol-style-bold news-ccox">Gender Discrimination<br />
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-340972" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Deborag-Dugan-3.png" alt="Deborag Dugan 3" width="593" height="582" /><br />
Dugan [photo] who detailed the harassment and other issues in an email to an academy human resources executive on December 22, according to the complaint alleges she was paid less than her male predecessor Neil Portnow, and that she was also subject to retaliation for refusing to hire as a consultant for nearly half his former salary of $1.74million<br />
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">In the complaint Dugan claimed she was paid less than former academy CEO Neil Portnow, who left the post last year, and that she was also subject to retaliation for refusing to hire Portnow as a consultant for nearly half his former salary.<br />
Portnow had been criticized for saying women need to &#8216;step up&#8217; when asked backstage at the 2018 show why only two female acts won awards during the live telecast last year. Portnow called his comments a &#8216;poor choice of words&#8217; and later said he chose not to seek an extension on his contract.<br />
A filing with the Internal Revenue Service shows that Portnow was paid $1.74 million in 2016.<br />
Dugan said she was pressured to hire him as a consultant for $750,000 annually. Dugan&#8217;s Grammys compensation was not revealed in Tuesday&#8217;s filing. She earned nearly $537,000 in 2016 in her previous job as CEO of Bono&#8217;s (RED) charity organization.<br />
The 2020 Grammys will be held on Sunday January 26 in Los Angeles.<br />
<span class="mol-style-medium"><span class="news-ccox mol-style-bold">The Academy hits back<br />
</span></span>Accusations have been flying back and forth between the academy and Dugan.<br />
Despite her stark allegations, the Recording Academy says that Dugan herself created a &#8216;toxic and intolerable&#8217; working environment and was &#8216;abusive and bullying&#8217; to an assistant.</p>
<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><strong><strong><img class="alignnone wp-image-340970" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Deborah-Dougan-1.png" alt="Deborah Dougan 1" width="661" height="464" />Ousted Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan claims the Recording Academy is a &#8216;boys club&#8217; that rigs nominations for the Grammy Awards, choosing artists Board members have business or personal relationships with</strong></strong></h6>
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<h6 class="Figure-caption"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-340998" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Harvey-Mason-Jr.-1.jpg" alt="Harvey Mason Jr. 1" width="840" height="639" /><strong>Interim Recording Academy President and interim CEO Harvey Mason Jr. seen [photo], the Grammy nominations press conference in November, assumed the dual role since Dugan was forced to step down late in 2019. He has dismissed the claims in Dugan&#8217;s complaint</strong></h6>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font"><a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8548478/grammy-chief-deborah-dugan-buyout-recording-academy">Billboard</a> reports a contradicting statement by the Academy, alleging that former CEO Dugan had offered to resign and drop her own accusations against the organization in exchange for a $22 million payout.<br />
A statement from the Academy last Thursday stated, &#8220;In light of concerns raised to the Recording Academy board of trustees, including a formal allegation of misconduct by a senior female member of the Recording Academy team, the Board has placed Recording Academy President and CEO Deborah Dugan on administrative leave, effective immediately.&#8221;<br />
Similar accusations were repeated on Monday by the Academy board chairman and interim President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr in a <a href="https://variety.com/2020/music/news/grammy-chiefslams-deborah-dugan-grammy-1203473731/">memo</a> sent to Grammy members, in which Mason also claims that Dugan made her allegations only after the Academy began its investigation of her.<br />
&#8216;It is curious that Ms. Dugan never raised these grave allegations until a week after legal claims were made against her personally by a female employee &#8230; who alleged Ms. Dugan had created a &#8220;toxic and intolerable&#8221; work environment and engaged in &#8220;abusive and bullying conduct.&#8221; When Ms. Dugan did raise her &#8220;concerns&#8221; to HR, she specifically instructed HR &#8220;not to take any action&#8221; in response&#8217;.<br />
In their <a class="class" href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-01-21/grammys-deborah-dugan-recording-academy-sexual-harrassment-neil-portnow" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">statement</a>, a recording academy spokesperson said: &#8220;We immediately launched independent investigations to review both Ms. Dugan’s potential misconduct and her subsequent allegations&#8230;. Ms. Dugan was placed on administrative leave only after offering to step down and demanding $22 million from the Academy..,&#8221; the statement added.<br />
The female employee who reportedly filed the &#8216;toxic environment&#8217; report against Dugan is believed to be Portnow&#8217;s executive assistant Claudine Little.<br />
After Portnow&#8217;s scandal last year the Academy announced it would create a task force to examine &#8216;conscious and unconscious bias&#8217; within the music industry and the academy itself, led by Tina Tchen, one time chief of staff to former first lady Michelle Obama.<br />
At the end of it&#8217;s findings the panel issued 18 recommended changes.<br />
Among the key findings in the final report released in December, the panel pointed out that there was a lack of diversity in the Academy&#8217;s offices and voting members, and Board of Trustees.</p>
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Ousted Academy boss hits back with accusations of sleaze in Grammy nominations – Deborah Dugan claims nominations process is rigged and Academy withheld knowledge that her predecessor, Neil Portnow, raped a ‘foreign’ female recording artist
