LOS ANGELES, CA — The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and its former CEO and president were sued Wednesday by a woman who alleges she was sexually harassed in a culture that permitted him and others to abuse, exploit and silence victims for years.
Plaintiff Terri McIntyre states in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleging assault, battery and harassment that she was hired as the academy’s Los Angeles chapter executive director in early 1994.
“In that role, she was subjected to pervasive sexual harassment, battery and assault by the organization’s then CEO and president, Mike Greene,” according to the suit, which further states that Greene and others in power “covered up the crimes and offenses, not only those crimes against her, but crimes against other young and vulnerable women.”
McIntyre, thrilled at the time to get her job, did not know that she would eventually need to quit in order to “escape the pervasive, incessant and routine sexual harassment and/or sexual assault perpetrated by Greene,” the suit states.
McIntyre seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. An academy representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
McIntyre released a statement regarding her alleged experiences.
“I was drugged, sexually assaulted and subject to constant workplace abuse and harassment by the CEO of the Recording Academy during my two years of employment,” she said. “His criminal, disgusting and deviant actions were devastating and soul-crushing. As a young, single mother pursuing what, until then, was a promising career in the music industry, I had nowhere to turn and received no help from the Recording Academy. “
McIntyre said she faced intolerable circumstances daily and was forced to leave her job and lose any prospect of having a future career in the music industry.
“From whom and what I know, I believe many other women were similarly victimized by Mike Greene and, by proxy, the Recording Academy,” McIntyre said.
McIntyre also says she was offered significant settlements to “silence and coerce me to sign non-disclosure agreements, which would forever protect Mike Greene and the Recording Academy from the crimes he and they committed against me.”
McIntyre said she was not swayed.
“I am not for sale, lease, or rent,” McIntyre said. “One day the time will be right and I will be strong enough to tell my story.”
Greene, credited with transforming the Grammy Awards into a global television event, resigned in 2002. Greene, then 52, had been the subject of an internal investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed female employees, according to a statement released by the academy at the time that also said he was cleared of wrongdoing.
City News Service