Lawsuit: Grammy Ex-President Sexually Assaulted Woman After Drugging Her

A lawsuit claims that Neil Portnow, who used to be the president and CEO of the Recording Academy – the group behind the Grammy Awards – raped a woman in 2018 in New York.

The suit, which CNN got from the New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday, says that Portnow’s hotel room in New York City was where the attack happened in June 2018, when he and the woman met for work.

The woman, who is not named in the suit, says Portnow forced himself on her after she lost her senses and passed out from drinking wine that he gave her. She is going after Portnow for sexual battery and violence based on gender, and the Recording Academy for being careless in hiring, managing and keeping him. A spokesperson for Portnow said the claims are false and made up by the woman because Portnow did not give her money or help her get a visa to live here.

“The claims have no basis and we plan to fight hard to clear the Academy in this suit,” a spokesperson for the Recording Academy said. The suit describes the woman as “a famous musician, inventor, and ex-member of The Recording Academy.” She was 37 when the attack happened.

The suit says she has been through “a lot of emotional, physical and mental pain, including feeling ashamed, guilty, losing money and being sad.”

Portnow was a big name in the music world and was the president and then president and CEO of the Recording Academy from 2002 until he left in 2019.

In 2018, he got a lot of criticism and people wanted him to quit after he said in a Variety interview that female artists should “step up” when asked why there were not many women at that year’s Grammy Awards show. In the interview, Portnow talked about “women who have the talent and passion to be musicians, engineers, producers, and leaders in the industry,” saying they should “step up because I think they are welcome. I don’t know what it’s like to face those kinds of barriers but I think it’s our job — our industry’s job — to make it clear that they are welcome…”

He later said his comment was “taken out of context”.