Ousted Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan says she has ‘evidence’ that award process is rigged and rife with corruption
- Ex-Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan filed an explosive complaint on Tuesday with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission
- She claims she was suspended after raising concerns of sexual harassment, voting irregularities and other misconduct within the Recording Academy
- She also claimed that her predecessor, Neil Portnow, raped an unnamed foreign female musician and that the Academy knew about the allegation
- Portnow has since said the rape allegation is ‘false and outrageous’
- Dugan has since claimed she has evidence of rigging for Grammy nominations
- She refused to name the artist and did not elaborate on the evidence she has
- In her complaint, Dugan says an artist in the 2019 song of the year category was nominated because a board member represents them
Ousted Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan claims she has evidence that the award process is rigged and rife with corruption.
Dugan filed an explosive complaint on Tuesday with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission alleging she was suspended after raising concerns of sexual harassment, voting irregularities and other misconduct within the Recording Academy.
She also claimed that her predecessor, Neil Portnow, raped an unnamed foreign female musician and that the Academy knew about the allegation. Portnow has since said the rape allegation is ‘false and outrageous’.
In an interview with Good Morning America on Thursday, Dugan opened up about having evidence of alleged rigging for Grammy Award nominations.
Ousted Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan told GMA on Thursday she had evidence that the award process is rigged and rife with corruption
In her complaint, Dugan specifically mentioned the 2019 song of the year category and claims an artist who had a low-ranking song ended up with a Grammy nomination because they were represented by a member of the Academy’s board.
‘I have evidence,’ she said.
Dugan refused to name the artist and did not elaborate on the evidence she has.
Childish Gambino won the category at last year’s Grammys with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Shawn Mendes and Lady Gaga nominated in the category.
‘The system should be transparent. There are incidents of conflicts of interests that taints the results,’ Dugan said.
‘It’s not even just that one room. I have evidence that in another room, cause there were complaints in the jazz category…’
Dugan filed an explosive complaint on Tuesday with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. She is pictured above on GMA with her attorney Doug Wigdor
In a follow up interview with CBS This Morning, Dugan said board members represented some artists and, in some cases, nominees were in the room when the voting process took place.
‘There is a system of taking care of their own. Mostly white males that are in those rooms making those decisions,’ Dugan said.
‘If you represent that artist, you have financial gain if that artist is nominated.’
When asked if she thought the Grammy voting process was rigged, Dugan said: ‘Yes, it is’.
Dugan’s filing dealt a major blow to the Recording Academy less than a week before the Grammys – music’s biggest night of the year.
She also claimed that her predecessor, Neil Portnow, raped an unnamed foreign female musician and that the Academy knew about the allegation. Portnow has since said the rape allegation is ‘false and outrageous’