Ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan Tells 'GMA' She Was 'Trying to Make a Difference': Watch

The Recording Academy has denied embattled president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s request for release from the arbitration agreement she signed before joining the nonprofit organization in August 2019, but says it is willing to waive its confidentiality provision -- meaning the process can play out publicly. As part of her employment contract, Dugan had agreed to arbitrate any future disputes between herself and the academy confidentially and in private.

In response to ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan’s request last week to be released from the arbitration agreement she signed when she took the job, the Academy has agreed to have the dispute heard publicly — however, that agreement is not as liberating as it at first sounds.

Rap mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs took aim at the beleaguered Recording Academy bosses for their treatment of hip-hop acts as he accepted one of the organisation’s top prizes on Saturday (25Jan20).

Ousted Recording Academy CEO/president Deborah Dugan’s attorneys are calling for her to be reinstated and for board chair Harvey Mason to step down if the organization is serious about reform. 

By Bruce Haring

Days before the biggest music night commences, the Grammys 2020 is already surrounded by a set of controversies. For the unversed, the Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan was sacked just a few weeks ago before the annual awards show.

Following ousted Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s accusations the organization’s voting procedures are “corrupt,” the organization's board chair and acting CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and chief awards office Bill Freimuth have released a statement ahead of Sunday’s Grammy Awards.

Deborah Dugan, the ousted Grammys CEO who was placed on administrative leave last week, has said music's biggest awards are tainted because of conflicts of interest that infect how certain songs and artists are nominated.

By Dade Hayes

Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan is booked to appear on tomorrow’s Good Morning America (Jan. 23), Billboard has confirmed. On the show, she's expected to detail her reasons behind why she filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Tuesday (Jan. 21) against the Academy, after she was placed on administrative leave on Jan. 16 amid allegations of workplace bullying.

Deborah Dugan’s ouster from the top job at the Recording Academy, just ten days before the Grammy Awards, was a shock to nearly everyone not directly involved in the decision. But according to multiple sources and the bombshell complaint her attorneys filed on Tuesday, she and the Academy establishment were working at cross purposes almost from the outset, and tensions had been escalating dramatically for months.

In the latest twist in the ongoing drama around the Recording Academy, ousted CEO Deborah Dugan will appear — live — on “Good Morning America” tomorrow, a rep at the network confirmed to Variety.

Neil Portnow, the former chief of the Recording Academy, has been accused of raping a female artist by his successor, Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan, who was placed on an administrative leave days ago.

In suspended Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s blockbuster Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint filed Tuesday (Jan. 21) that includes allegations of sexual harassment, business improprieties and rape by the organization’s former chief, the most damaging claims in the long run may be about voting irregularities for the Grammy Awards.

The much-awaited and the biggest music night is only a few days away but Grammys 2020 is embroiled in a controversy like no other. The Recording Academy, which conducts the Grammy Awards, sacked former CEO Deborah Dugan just days before the  awards night.

By Patrick Hipes

Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Tuesday (Jan. 21), after she was placed on administrative leave on Jan.

By David Robb

Neil Portnow, the former CEO of the Recording Academy, stepped down after being accused of raping an unnamed recording artist, according to a blockbuster claim filed on Tuesday by his successor.

On Jan. 10, six days before Recording Academy CEO/president Deborah Dugan was placed on administrative leave, she asked for a $22 million settlement, the Recording Academy tells Billboard.