Phoebe Bridgers sent a strongly worded message to former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow, who once argued women in music needed to “step up” to be recognized.
Bridgers, 29, walked away from the 2024 Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4, with more wins than any other artist, taking home three of her four trophies with her band, Boygenius. The trio — which also includes Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker — were asked about women’s place in rock ‘n roll while celebrating their wins in the press room.
“I have something to say about women,” Bridgers replied, per The Hollywood Reporter. “The ex-president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, said that if women want to be nominated and win Grammys that they should step up. He’s also being accused of sexual violence. And to him I’d like to say I know you’re not dead yet, but when you are, rot in piss.”
Portnow helmed the Recording Academy and MusiCares from 2002 to 2019. He raised eyebrows in 2018 after commenting on the lack of representation for women at the Grammys that year. (Only 17 of the 86 categories were won by women, with just two female artists presented with their awards during the televised ceremony.)
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“I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level, to step up,” Portnow said at the time. “Because I think they would be welcome.
He continued: “I don’t have personal experience of those kinds of brick walls that you face, but I think it’s really a combination. Us as an industry making the welcome mat very obvious, creating mentorships, creating opportunities not only for women but all people who want to be creative and really paying it forward and creating that next generation of artists who feel like they can do anything, they can say anything.”
#GrammysSoMale quickly began to trend on social media, and Pink was one of many musicians to share her perspective. “Women in music don’t need to ‘step up’ — women have been stepping since the beginning of time,” she asserted in a handwritten note shared online. “Stepping up, and also stepping aside women OWNED music this year. They’ve been KILLING IT. And every year before this.”
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Portnow’s tenure with the Grammys and the Recording Academy ended one year after his controversial remarks made headlines. Last fall, he was sued by a woman who claimed he drugged and raped her in a New York hotel in 2018.
The New York Times reported in November 2023 that the lawsuit was filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan and accused Portnow of negligence. The woman was not named in the filing. She allegedly met Portnow at an event when the Grammys were held in New York in early 2018, and he invited her to his hotel when he returned to the city that summer. She was given a glass of wine in his room and later “began to feel woozy.” When she requested to leave, Portnow allegedly replied that there were no taxis available.
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According to her suit, the accuser eventually lost consciousness and woke up throughout the night to find Portnow “forcibly” assaulting her. He left the room the next morning to attend a meeting.
A rep for Portnow denied the “outrageous” allegations in a statement, claiming the accusations were “the product of the plaintiff’s imagination” and vowing to “vigorously defend the Academy in this lawsuit.”
Jeffrey R. Anderson, the accuser’s lawyer, fired back at Portnow’s “lip service” to women in the industry. “He does a disservice to every woman and every musician who is being oppressed by him and others,” the attorney claimed. “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.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).