In the EEOC complaint, Dugan also alleged major financial self-dealing and improprieties at the Academy - a public, non-profit organization - as well as vote rigging for the awards themselves, and an unwillingess on the part of board members to act upon a number of urgent recommendations made by a diversity and inclusion task force, who released a report of their work in December.

The EEOC complaint includes several bombshell accusations, including that Dugan's predecessor, Neil Portnow, raped a female artist in New York that Dugan was pressed to hire Portnow as a consultant for $750,000 by the Academy's then-board chair, John Poppo and that the Academy's general counsel and former board chair, Joel Katz, sexually harassed Dugan in May 2019, as she was being courted for the top Academy job.īoth Portnow and Katz have denied Dugan's allegations. 10 days ago, the president and CEO of the Recording Academy, Deborah Dugan - who was installed in August, and whose appointment as its first female chief was widely seen as a corrective for an institution struggling with perceptions that it was too male, too white, too old and too insular - was suspended for an accusation that she had bullied the executive assistant of her predecessor, Claudine Little.ĭugan claims that her suspension had nothing to do with the alleged bullying - which she has denied - but was in retaliation for a number of extremely serious accusations she made, some initially in a December memo she sent to the Academy's HR department, and then reiterated and expanded in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination complaint that was filed last Tuesday. The behind-the-scenes allegations roiling the Grammys are messy and complicated, and have grown more so on a nearly daily basis. I love you to my core, I grew up watching all of you.' I'm so honored and grateful to be here, amongst all of you. 'I never thought this would happen in my whole life,' Eilish said as she accepted the Song of the Year award. (O'Connell also broke boundaries with another win on Sunday night: At age 22, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical prize.) rapper and philanthropist Nipsey Hussle, who was killed last April.ĭespite the clouds hanging over the awards, Eilish and her brother and creative partner, Finneas O'Connell, who performed two of her songs together earlier during the ceremony, appeared genuinely starstruck when they began picking up trophies.

Throughout the proceedings, winners, presenters and even the evening's host, Alicia Keys, made reference to the pall cast on the ceremony, which also included a musical tribute to the late L.A. Lizzo, in the opening performance during the 62nd Grammy Awards on Sunday evening in Los Angeles. (She is only the second person ever to do so, after Christopher Cross in 1981.)

But Eilish pushed past, picking up five total Grammys, becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Album of the Year and Record of the Year prizes and the first female artist to sweep all 'Big Four' categories. It initially felt as if Lizzo might carry the night, especially after a joyous, triumphant opening medley and an early win, for Best Pop Solo Performance. If anything, the 2020 awards were supposed to be a celebration of younger talent - and most especially female and diverse artists, with serious contenders for major awards that also included Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Ariana Grande, H.E.R. In recent years, especially as major black musicians like Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar have lost out in the top categories, the Grammys have become a target of critics arguing that the Academy was falling out of touch - or worse, using stars to boost ratings without acknowledging their art.

The death of Los Angeles basketball legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash just hours before the awards, coupled with an ongoing scandal within the Recording Academy that has rocked the music business, meant that this year's televised ceremony was straining under a heavier load than usual - and the flames onstage during several of the live performances were nothing compared to the fire that the Academy is attempting to douse behind the scenes, which include explosive allegations, including sexual misconduct and financial and voting improprieties, levied by the organization's recently suspended CEO, Deborah Dugan, who was placed on leave earlier this month. But the organizers of the ceremony seemed to still be pressing towards joy, no matter what. The evening was far from the fizzy, uplifting celebration that the music industry, and the Recording Academy, the organization that gives out the prizes, had anticipated just a few weeks ago. Pop Culture Happy Hour 2020 Grammys Recap

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