As the war of words between the Recording Academy and ousted president/CEO Deborah Dugan continues to escalate, interim boss Harvey Mason Jr. today issued a statement to the Academy’s membership about Dugan’s alleged misconduct and warned about “leaks and misinformation.”
The letter claims that Dugan’s attorney Bryan Freedman sought “millions of dollars” for his client to step down from her post and withdraw the allegations she made in a memo sources say she sent to the Recording Academy’s head of HR last month. Sources say the memo includes allegations about “voting irregularities, financial mismanagement, ‘exorbitant and unnecessary’ legal bills, and conflicts of interest involving members of the academy’s board, executive committee and outside lawyers.” According to the Academy’s tax records, it paid $15 million to two outside law firms over the course of four years.
The letter comes after a weekend that has seen Dugan’s attorney claiming she is under 24-hour security, and an article highly critical of Dugan posted late last night on the Showbiz 411 site, claiming that Claudine Little, the woman who sources say lodged the complaint of misconduct against Dugan, has retained Harvey Weinstein/ Charlie Walk attorney Patty Glaser and is planning a lawsuit against her. (It is perhaps worth noting that Showbiz 411 is a longtime supporter of Dugan’s predecessor Neil Portnow, whom Little worked with for 17 years).
Dugan has added New York-based litigator Douglas Wigdor to her team, who is representing an unidentified woman in the criminal trial against Weinstein. Wigdor and Freedman — who represented Megyn Kelly and Gabrielle Union in their exits from NBC and “America’s Got Talent,” respectively — both declined Variety‘s requests for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety