THE GRAMMY SHITSTORM CONTINUES

The bombshells just keep dropping. Deborah Dugan has filed a discrimination suit with the EEOC against the Recording Academy. As The New York Times, Variety, Rolling Stone and other publications have reported, Attorneys Douglas Wigdor and Michael Willemin filed the complaint, which outlines sexual harassment of Dugan herself by attorney Joel Katz (at a dinner just after she accepted the job in May) as well as "exorbitant" fees he and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, collected; charging that her predecessor, Neil Portnow, "allegedly" raped a female recording artist, which was "the real reason his contract was not renewed," and that Dugan was asked by former Board chair John Poppo to offer him a $750k consulting contract; "egregious conflicts of interest and improper self-dealing"—including fees paid to Board Members who were supposed to be volunteers—"and voting irregularities with respect to nominations and awards" amid a "boys' club mentality and approach to governance"; and that Claudine Little, the assistant behind workplace complaints against Dugan, monitored her email and reported to the Grammy Board. A subsection of the complaint on the awards and the secret nominating committees is titled "THE GRAMMY VOTING PROCESS IS RIPE [sic] WITH CORRUPTION."

How will these explosive charges play out? How will the Grammys weather all of this? We're hearing rumors of female performers planning to drop out of the show. How many pianos will Alicia Keys have to play at once to change the subject? Stay tuned.

Filed EEOC Supplement by Sharon Waxman on Scribd

BREAKING: Wigdor LLP has filed a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC on behalf of Deborah Dugan against the Recording Academy (the Grammys). Below is a statement from her attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor and Michael J. Willemin.#DeborahDugan #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/46CxukAT2V

— Douglas Wigdor - Wigdor Law (@WigdorLaw) January 21, 2020