Portnow served as the Recording Academy’s president from 2002 until 2019, when he resigned amid controversy for saying women needed to “step up” if they wanted more representation.
“The allegations in the Complaint are completely false,” a spokesperson for Portnow said in a statement. “The claims are the product of the Plaintiff’s imagination and undoubtedly motivated by Mr. Portnow’s refusal to comply with the Plaintiff’s outrageous demands for money and assistance in obtaining a residence visa for her.”
“Accordingly, Mr. Portnow will defend the case with vigor and will prevail,” the statement said.
The lawsuit accused the academy, which runs the Grammy Awards, of showing negligence by not monitoring Portnow or opening an investigation into a complaint she filed about him in October 2018.
According to the lawsuit, the academy “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 academy said in a statement: “We continue to believe the claims to be without merit and intend to vigorously defend the Academy in this lawsuit.”
The woman, who was identified in the lawsuit as “an internationally acclaimed musician” and former academy member, alleged she met with Portnow in New York in June 2018 to conduct an interview for a magazine. After she went to a hotel room with him, according to the lawsuit, Portnow gave her a glass of wine that was spiked with drugs and sexually assaulted her.
The woman said in the lawsuit she reached out to the Recording Academy about the incident and tried to file a police report. In 2020, the allegations became public through a complaint from Portnow’s successor, Deborah Dugan.
Dugan issued a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the academy and alleged that Portnow had been accused of rape, according to the lawsuit. Portnow denied the allegations at the time.
“The allegations of rape are ludicrous, and untrue. The suggestion that there was is disseminating a lie,” he said in an October 2020 statement to Variety. “An in-depth independent investigation by experienced and highly regarded lawyers was conducted and I was completely exonerated. There was no basis for the allegations and once again I deny them unequivocally.”
The allegations come days before the Grammys are set to announce its nominees for the 2024 award show.
