It’s crazy to think that this is happening just days away from the Grammy Awards. In an interview on Good Morning America, former Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan reinforced her claims from the 46-page complaint she released earlier this week. Her lawyer, Bryan Freedman, even said that Grammy’s were on ‘life support.’
To recap, she makes riveting accusations that include sexual harassment incidents against her from the organization’s general counsel Joel Katz as well as against a female recording artist from former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow.
She also alleges that the nomination and voting process of the Grammy Awards is rigged – specifically citing examples which left artists like Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande with deserving nominations for the most coveted award in the music industry.
There is even mention of a nominee for this year’s Song of the Year category that was not even supposed to be in the category, but favoritism and personal relationships within the Recording Academy got that person there. Dugan would not reveal who she was referring to.
During her interview with George Stephanopoulos this morning, she laments having to do this at this time. She clears up that she indeed filed a complaint before she was ousted as CEO for an alleged ‘bullying’ complaint against her. The timing of the release of her complaint made some people question her motives.
It will be interesting to see how this story continues to unfold as we near Sunday.
The 62nd annual Grammy Awards take place this Sunday, Jan. 26 in Los Angeles. Don’t miss our coverage of the whole weekend on our website and social media channels.
