Recording Academy Officially Fires CEO Deborah Dugan

Deborah Dugan

The organization that hands out the Grammys said it fired its chief executive, Deborah Dugan, more than six weeks after placing her on administrative leave amid conflicting allegations of harassment.

The Wall Street Journal reports the Recording Academy’s board placed Ms. Dugan, its first female CEO, on involuntary leave just a few days before its flagship awards show, saying a subordinate had complained that Ms. Dugan had treated her abusively. Dugan responded in a discrimination complaint a few days later that it was she who had been harassed by the academy’s general counsel, Joel Katz. Ms. Dugan alleged in the complaint that Katz, a music-industry lawyer, invited her to a private dinner soon after she was named CEO, at which he called her “baby,” made inappropriate comments about her appearance and tried to kiss her.

A lawyer for Ms. Dugan said Monday: “The decision is despicable and, in due course, the Academy, [its] leadership and its attorneys will be held accountable under the law.”

Howard Weitzman, a lawyer for Mr. Katz, said in January that Ms. Dugan’s allegations “are false and Mr. Katz categorically and emphatically denies her version of that evening.”

The academy released a letter on Monday saying it had commissioned two independent investigations: one into the allegations against Ms. Dugan, the other into her own complaints. In a separate statement, the vice chair of the academy’s board of trustees, Tammy Hurt, said “the investigation overwhelmingly confirmed the serious complaints that had been lodged against her by a multitude of Recording Academy staff members.”

Without offering further details on the allegations against Ms. Dugan or the investigations’ findings, the organization indicated its board chairman, Harvey Mason Jr., would continue serving as interim CEO as it begins searching for a new permanent chief.