Former Grammy Chief Executive & Chairman Neil Portnow Sued For Alleged Sexual Assault

According to pitchfork.com, the former chairman and chief executive of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow has been allegedly  accused of alleged sexual assault by an alleged  female musician. The alleged incident allegedly happened in a New York hotel room back in June 2018.  The alleged lawsuit allegedly also names the Recording Academy as a defendant, and the plaintiff, identified as JAA Doe, allegedly says that the alleged  organization “knew or should have known of Defendant Portnow’s sexually assaultive behavior towards women, and that the academy allegedly “aided and abetted Portnow’s conduct to protect their reputations and silence Plaintiff’s and other women in the music industry who have stood up and spoken up.”

The plaintiff allegedly claims to have allegedly suffered alleged severe emotional, alleged physical and alleged psychological distress that allegedly included alleged shame, alleged guilt, alleged economic loss of earning capacity and alleged emotional loss. The alleged suit was allegedly filed pursuant to the Adult Survivors Act, which is a legislation passed last year that created a one year window for survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were over the age of 18 to sue their abusers, regardless of when the abuse occurred. The window to file  closes on November 24. The statute of limitations in New York was raised to 20 years in 2019 but did not apply retroactively. The statute was previously limited to five years.

The alleged unnamed woman is allegedly described in the alleged  suit as an alleged  instrumentalist from outside the United States and allegedly was and still is a resident of New York. After  allegedly debuting at Carnegie Hall back in 2015, the woman allegedly was invited to become a voting member of the Recording Academy. In the alleged complaint, the plaintiff allegedly describes how she allegedly met Portnow at the Paley Center for Media in New York City in January 2018, where he allegedly spoke on a panel at an alleged event for the 60 Annual Grammy Awards. Allegedly later that year, the plaintiff allegedly said she allegedly asked to interview Portnow for her alleged magazine and Portnow allegedly invited her to meet him at his hotel to allegedly conduct the interview.

According to the alleged complaint, Portnow allegedly offered the plaintiff wine at the hotel, which she allegedly drank but Portnow allegedly did not. After consuming the alleged wine, the plaintiff allegedly said she allegedly began to feel woozy and allegedly had trouble focusing her eyes. The woman allegedly claims she allegedly attempted to leave the room but was allegedly unable to walk or control her body and Portnow allegedly told her there were no taxis available to take her home. The woman allegedly says after Portnow allegedly attempted to kiss and massage her body, she allegedly lost consciousness as Portnow allegedly was placing his alleged hands around her alleged waist.

The plaintiff says she allegedly regained consciousness several times throughout the night and she was allegedly awake  each time Portnow was allegedly sexually assaulting her. She allegedly says that throughout the alleged assault, Portnow allegedly assured her it was allegedly okay by saying “you are the boss.” After Portnow allegedly left the hotel room for an aleged meeting the next morning, The woman allegedly gathered her belongings and left the room.

The complaint alleged details shows how Portnow allegedly ignored attempts by the alleged plaintiff to contact him after the alleged assault. The plaintiff also allegedly emailed officials at the Recording Academy,by allegedly claiming Portnow had allegedly sexually harassed her. The Times reported that her lawyers allegedly detailed the alleged  account in full to Academy officials and after allegedly filing a police report naming Portnow as the alleged attacker, the district attorney’s office allegedly declined to prosecute.

After his alleged controversial comments in 2018 about imploring women to allegedly “step up” to overcome inequalities in the music industry, Portnow allegedly was fired from his post as chairman. In 2020, Portnow’s alleged successor Deborah Dugan allegedly accused the Academy for allegedly covering up the alleged assault by allegedly claiming she was allegedly fired in retaliation but the alleged victim did not come forward until now.

Cait Stoddard: Hello! My name is Caitlin and my job is writing music news stories and reviewing metal music albums. I enjoy collecting vinyl, playing video games, watching movies and going to concerts.
Related Post
Leave a Comment