An unidentified female musician sued former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow in New York Wednesday, alleging the then-leader of the Santa Monica-based organization that presents the Grammy Awards drugged and raped her in a hotel room in 2018.
According to The New York Times, which broke the news of the lawsuit, the case was filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accusing Portnow of sexual battery. The woman who filed the case is not identified in the lawsuit, but it describes her as an instrumentalist from outside the United States who once performed at Carnegie Hall, the paper reported.
The assault allegation first became public in 2020, when it was included in a document filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Los Angeles by Deborah Dugan, who had succeeded Portnow as CEO of the Recording Academy but was fired less than a year later.
Dugan contended in her EEOC complaint that her removal from the CEO position was retaliation for raising allegations of rampant conflicts of interest within the Recording Academy, voting irregularities involving Grammy nominations and a `boys’ club’ mentality among the organization’s leadership.
Academy officials vehemently denied her claims.
In her complaint, Dugan also alleged that Portnow had raped a foreign recording actress after her show at Carnegie Hall. She alleged the attack was the real reason Portnow had to step down as CEO — not his widely publicized statement that women in the music industry would have to “step up” to earn greater Grammys recognition, a remark that earned him widespread rebuke among female artists at the height of the #MeToo movement.
At the time, Portnow called the rape allegation “ludicrous and untrue.”
“The suggestion that there was (a rape) is disseminating a lie. The baseless complaint about my conduct referenced in the EEOC filing was immediately brought to the attention of the board of directors’ executive committee. An in-depth independent investigation by experienced and highly regarded lawyers was conducted and I was completely exonerated. There was no basis for the allegations, and once again I deny them unequivocally,” Portnow said.
In a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday, a representative for Portnow denied the allegations in the lawsuit, calling them “the product of the plaintiff’s imagination and undoubtedly motivated by Mr. Portnow’s refusal to comply with the plaintiff’s outrageous demands for money and assistance in obtaining a residence visa for her.”
The spokesman said “the latest incarnation” of the allegations “offers a `new and improved’ story, padding it with even more outrageous and untrue allegations.”
The Recording Academy told The Times in a statement, “We continue to believe the claims to be without merit and intend to vigorously defend the Academy in this lawsuit.”
The suit accused the Academy of negligence.
Attorney Jeffrey Anderson, who represents the plaintiff in the case, told The New York Times, “Neil Portnow gives lip service to women as standing up. But he does a disservice to every woman and every musician who is being oppressed by him and others. This is not just about Neil Portnow and not just about the Recording Academy, but about the culture in the music and entertainment industry and its doublespeak about rape and abuse.”
According to the paper, the lawsuit contends the plaintiff met Portnow at an Academy event in January 2018 when the Grammys were held in New York. In June of that year, he met her again in the lobby of his hotel and gave her a glass of wine, and after drinking it she “began to feel woozy.” She asked to leave, but Portnow told her there were taxis available, according to the suit.
The woman claims she lost consciousness, awakening occasionally during the night to find Portnow sexually assaulting her, according to the suit.