Music

Deborah Dugan, the embattled president and chief executive of the Recording Academy, was fired by the group’s board on Monday following weeks of internal turmoil between the organization that runs the Grammy Awards and its new leader.The academy announced Ms. Dugan’s removal in a letter from its executive committee, sent to the organization’s members. “We placed our trust in her and believed she would effectively lead the organization,” the committee wrote in the letter. “Unfortunately, that is not what happened.”Ms. Dugan was first removed from her position in January, when the academy placed her on administrative leave five months after she joined the organization and 10 days before the Grammy Awards.At the time, the academy attributed its decision to a “formal allegation of misconduct” against Ms. Dugan. But in a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Ms. Dugan said her removal was retaliation for speaking up against misconduct within the organization, including sexual harassment, corrupt voting procedures and conflicts of interest among board members. She also said she was harassed by Joel Katz, a powerful industry lawyer with deep ties to the academy. He has denied the allegations.“While I am disappointed by this latest development,” Ms. Dugan said in a statement, “I am not surprised given the academy’s pattern of dealing with whistle-blowers. Is anyone surprised that its purported investigations did not include interviewing me or addressing the greater claims of conflicts of interest and voting irregularities?”Ms. Dugan’s lawyers, Douglas H. Wigdor and Michael J. Willemin, said in their own statement, “The decision is despicable and, in due course, the academy, its leadership and its attorneys will be held accountable under the law.”The executive committee’s letter said the board based its decision on two “costly” independent investigations into Ms. Dugan, the “unwarranted and damaging media campaign” it said she launched to “derail the Grammy Awards,” and her “consistent management deficiencies and failures.”The academy added that it discussed a settlement agreement with Ms. Dugan, but ultimately chose not to follow through with one.“Not removing Ms. Dugan from the organization at this time would have caused us to compromise our values,” the letter said. “We could not reward her with a lucrative settlement and thereby set a precedent that behavior like hers has no consequence. Our members and employees, and the entire music industry, deserve better than that.”Ms. Dugan, the Recording Academy’s first female president, was heralded as a fresh start for a group criticized for lagging behind in racial and gender diversity — particularly after her predecessor, Neil Portnow, had called for women in the industry to “step up” for recognition. When the academy tapped Ms. Dugan for the gig in May 2019, her résumé included roles as the chief executive of Bono’s Red charity, president of Disney Publishing Worldwide and a lawyer on Wall Street.The academy will begin searching for a new chief executive in the coming days, the executive committee said in the letter — a search process that will begin, it said, by looking “carefully to see where the last one led us astray.” More

The rap group Public Enemy said it was “moving forward” without Flavor Flav after he raised objections that Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign had made it appear that the group was backing his candidacy.A lawyer representing Flavor Flav, the flamboyant, clock-wearing rapper who had his own reality series on VH1 and whose real name is William Drayton, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Sanders campaign on Friday. The letter objected to what the lawyer said was the unauthorized use of Flavor Flav’s likeness and trademarked clock image to promote a rally on Sunday with Public Enemy in Los Angeles.The lawyer, Matthew H. Friedman, said in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, that Mr. Sanders, a Vermont senator, had been endorsed by Chuck D of Public Enemy, but not by the group itself or by Flavor Flav.“The Public Enemy Movement cannot allow its cultural identity, likeness and life’s work to be misappropriated by political operatives in support of a fictional revolution — Don’t Believe The Hype!” Mr. Friedman wrote. “It is unfortunate that a political campaign would be so careless with the artistic integrity of such iconoclastic figures in American culture.”The Sanders campaign declined to comment on Monday. A spokeswoman for Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio issued a statement that said: “Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav. We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.”Flavor Flav responded on Twitter, saying he was “disappointed” in Chuck D. “Are you kidding me right now?” he wrote. “Over Bernie Sanders?? You wanna destroy something we’ve built over 35 years OVER POLITICS??”“I’m your partner,” he said. “You can’t fire me.”He added, “there is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav.”In a follow-up statement on Monday, Public Enemy said that it did not split with Flavor Flav over his political views. It said the rapper had been suspended from the group since 2016, after he did not appear for a benefit with Harry Belafonte, the singer and activist, in Atlanta.“That was the last straw for the group,” the statement said. “He had previously missed numerous live gigs from Glastonbury to Canada, album recording sessions and photo shoots. He always chose to party over work.”The statement concluded, “It’s time to move on and everyone wishes Flavor well.”Flavor Flav and Chuck D formed Public Enemy in 1982; Public Enemy Radio is an offshoot of the original group led by Chuck D. That group toured in Europe with the Wu-Tang Clan in May 2019 without Flavor Flav, and said it has also done benefit shows without him.On Sunday, Chuck D, whose real name is Carlton Ridenhour, addressed the episode by saying on Twitter, “it’s not about Bernie with Flav … he don’t know the difference between Barry Sanders or Bernie Sanders.” (During the 2016 general election, Flavor Flav said, “I would never want to take sides in this thing” to avoid alienating any fans. In 2018, he called President Trump the “most destructive president in United States history.”)In a separate post early Monday morning, Chuck D said that he had appeared at the Sanders rally on Sunday night. He added that if a “$bag,” or payment, had been involved, “Flav would’ve been there front & center.” His former partner, he added, “will NOT do free benefit shows.”The rally drew thousands to the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday and featured Chuck D and his crew performing a set of Public Enemy material that included “Bring the Noise,” “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” and “Fight the Power,” according to The Los Angeles Times. Also appearing at the event held ahead of Super Tuesday were the comedian Sarah Silverman and the actor Dick Van Dyke.On Twitter, Chuck D said that he had built the group Public Enemy Radio to perform Public Enemy’s material at “benefits & fundraisers.” Flavor Flav’s “refusal to do” Many Rivers to Cross, a music and arts festival organized by Mr. Belafonte “was my last time,” he said. “I built Enemy Radio to get far away from that ridiculousness.”Chuck D also said that Flavor Flav had sued him on Friday. It was not clear whether Chuck D was referring to the cease-and-desist letter, or whether a lawsuit had been filed. On Twitter, Flavor Flav said he had not filed any suit, and that he had only asked the Sanders campaign “to correct misleading marketing.”This is not the first legal feud between the two artists. In 2017, Flavor Flav sued Chuck D, alleging that he had not been paid all the royalties he was owed. Flavor Flav also accused Chuck D of using Flavor Flav’s voice on an album that was released that year and included his image on its cover, both without authorization. More