A second woman has come forward with sexual abuse allegations against Oscar-nominated and Grammy-winning composer Danny Elfman.
In documents filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the accuser, a 47-year-old woman in Maryland going by Jane Doe XX, is alleging that Elfman sexually abused her from 1997 to 2002. She is suing Elfman and his company, Musica de la Muerta, for sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment and negligence.
Elfman’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff met Elfman at a party in April of 1997 while she was a 21-year-old student at the New York Film Academy and Elfman was 47, and he began inviting her to industry events, asking her opinions on films and music and treating her as “a consultant and protegé.”
Over the next five years, according to the complaint, when the plaintiff and Elfman were alone together, Elfman “removed all of his clothing until he was completely nude, and walked around nude in front of Plaintiff, exposing his genitals. Defendant Elfman expressed to Plaintiff that this was the only way he could work, be creative, and successful.” Due to Elfman’s prominence in the entertainment industry, the plaintiff felt “she had no choice but to always comply with his requests, and Plaintiff felt this was a condition of their continued relationship.”
Elfman brought Jane Doe XX to cast and crew gatherings for Good Will Hunting and a scoring session at Sony, and, in 1998, invited her to stay at his home in Topanga Canyon, CA for several weeks, while she looked for her own apartment in Los Angeles.
The plaintiff alleges she sometimes slept in the same bed as Elfman, “never removing her clothing, often sleeping on top of the bedding,” while Elfman slept naked next to her. In approximately 2002, she says Elfman told her, “Every time you have ever slept next to me, I would masturbate next to you.” The plaintiff ended her relationship with Elfman after that disclosure.
The case mirrors that of composer Nomi Abadi, who sued Elfman in July for failure to pay on a settlement reached in 2018, according to court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. Abadi’s July filing alleges that Elfman failed to pay $85,000 of a $830,000 settlement.
According to reporting first published in Rolling Stone in July, the 2018 lawsuit alleged that Elfman exposed himself and masturbated in front of Abadi without her consent on several occasions. The outlet cited a 2017 Los Angeles police report in which Elfman was accused of indecent exposure. In July 2018, Elfman entered into a settlement and nondisclosure agreement with Abadi. Elfman denied that he sexually harassed Abadi in Rolling Stone, issuing a statement that said, “Ms. Abadi’s allegations are simply not true.”
When Maryland-based Jane Doe XX read about Abadi’s case, she reached out to Abadi’s attorney mentioned in the story, Jeff Anderson. Anderson says Jane Doe XX told him, “The similarities are so striking. Around the same age, both aspiring in the entertainment industry, looking to him as a powerful mentor and trusting him and not in a position to recognize that they were each being used and abused.” Jane Doe XX is seeking damages “including but not limited to medical and incidental expenses and loss of earnings.”
Elfman, who was the lead singer of the 1980s New Wave band Oingo Boingo, has collaborated with Tim Burton on projects such as Batman and Edward Scissorhands and Sam Raimi on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He earned Oscar nominations for Men in Black, Good Will Hunting, Big Fish and Milk.
Elfman is expected to appear at The Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 27, 28 and 29 as part of Disney’s “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in Concert,” with performers including Halsey, Catherine O’Hara and Fred Armisen.
