Los Angeles (AFP)
The boss of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, organizer of the Grammy Awards, filed a complaint Tuesday against the institution which has just suspended her functions, asserting that it was retaliatory measures against her. against for having denounced various embezzlements last month.
In the 44-page complaint she filed in Los Angeles with the Equal Opportunities Commission, Deborah Dugan details her charges ranging from sexual harassment to conflict of interest to irregularities in the votes for the Grammy Awards.
The CEO of the Recording Academy, which brings together professionals from the music industry, claims in particular to have been the victim of sexual harassment by Joel Katz, one of the organization's lawyers. According to the text of the complaint, Ms. Dugan sent an email to the human resources department on December 22 to inform her.
Through the voice of his lawyer, Mr. Katz "categorically denied" these accusations to AFP, referring in a press release to a "working dinner" in a restaurant, "two and a half months before Ms. Dugan takes office ".
Deborah Dugan's email to management "also noted flagrant conflicts of interest, disputed transactions by board members, and voting irregularities for Grammy nominations" , ensures the complaint filed Tuesday. "All this was made possible by the mentality of + boys' club" which prevails, according to Deborah Dugan at the Recording Academy.
The president of the Disc Academy also said in her complaint that she had been pressured to hire her predecessor, Neil Portnow, as a consultant while allegations of rape were circulating about her within the organization, "real reason why his contract had not been renewed. "
First woman to direct the Academy, Mrs. Dugan assures that it was by way of retaliation that she was placed on "administrative leave" following accusations of "bad behavior".
Requested by AFP, the Recording Academy denied in a statement the accusations of Mrs. Dugan, regretting that they cast discredit on the ceremony of the Grammy Awards which is to be held Sunday in Los Angeles.
"It is strange that Ms. Dugan never raised these serious allegations before the accusations brought against her personally by an employee," writes the Academy. The employee "asserts that Ms. Dugan had created a" toxic and intolerable "work environment and had adopted" abusive and harassing behavior "," the statement added.
An independent investigation has been opened into these facts and Ms. Dugan's charges.
© 2020 AFP