Deborah Dugan Alleges Sexual Harassment Against Recording Academy

Recently ousted Recording Academy President and CEO Deborah Dugan has accused top entertainment lawyer Joel Katz of sexual harassment in a complaint against the academy her lawyers filed Tuesday with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The L-A Times reports.

Deborah Dugan

In the complaint, she also revealed an allegation she claims was known to the academy’s Board of Trustees that her predecessor, Neil Portnow, raped an unidentified “foreign” female recording artist.

The two most explosive charges are part of a sweeping 44-page complaint, filed just five days ahead of Sunday’s 62nd Grammy Awards ceremony. In the document, Dugan details “egregious conflicts of interest, improper self-dealing by Board members and voting irregularities with respect to nominations for Grammy Awards, all made possible by the ‘boy’s club’ mentality and approach to governance at the Academy.”

Dugan, 61, was placed on “administrative leave” last week by the academy’s board, which hired her last year to succeed Portnow after 17 years at the helm. On Monday, board chairman and interim President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. alleged in a memo to academy members that Dugan had created a “toxic and intolerable” working environment, was “abusive and bullying” to an assistant and that she demanded “millions” of dollars to withdraw her charges against the academy and resign.

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

In her complaint, Dugan stated that she attended a business dinner with Katz, who serves as general counsel to the academy and is a former chair of the board, ahead of an academy board retreat at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel in May 2019. Throughout their dinner, “Mr. Katz acted extremely inappropriately ... repeatedly referred to Ms. Dugan as ‘baby’ ... commented on Ms. Dugan’s physical appearance, telling her multiple times that she was ‘very pretty’ and ... attempt[ed] to ‘woo’ Ms. Dugan into a romantic relationship.”

Joel Katz

Further, Katz allegedly told Dugan “he was ‘very, very rich’ and suggested to Ms. Dugan that the two of them ‘spend time together’ and said that ‘traveling to my many homes could be something nice for us to share’.”

The EEOC filing added that “when dinner ended, Mr. Katz leaned in and attempted to kiss Ms. Dugan. Ms. Dugan quickly turned away, repulsed.”

Katz attorney Howard Weitzman issued a statement: “Ms. Dugan’s allegations of harassment and her description of a dinner at the steakhouse in the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel are false and Mr. Katz categorically and emphatically denies her version of that evening. This dinner meeting was 2½ months before Ms. Dugan started her job. 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. Ms. Dugan’s claims are made, for the first time, 7 months after this dinner took place. Mr. Katz will cooperate in any and all investigations or lawsuits by telling the absolute and whole truth. Hopefully Ms. Dugan will do the same.”