Music government Antonio “L.A.” Reid, a Grammy winner who led Arista and Epic Information, has been accused of sexual assault and harassment in a brand new lawsuit.
Drew Dixon, a former vp of A&R at Arista, filed the lawsuit in federal district court docket in Manhattan on Wednesday. The swimsuit alleges that Reid “sexually harassed Ms. Dixon and refused to permit her to succeed except she acquiesced to his demand to be alone and in shut proximity to her, the place he would create the chance to sexually assault her on two separate events.
“This litigation will not be solely concerning the horrific bodily assaults that Ms. Dixon needed to endure,” the swimsuit says, “however it’s also concerning the irreparable harm finished to the uncommon and blossoming profession of a rare expertise.”
A consultant for Reid didn’t return requests for remark Wednesday. In an announcement to The Instances, Dixon stated, “L.A. Reid is a identified predator, who makes use of his singular skilled energy to pressure himself on his victims. In my case, his persistent marketing campaign of sexual harassment and assault pressured me to desert the work I liked once I was on the prime of my recreation within the music enterprise, having labored my approach up from internships and a job as a receptionist.”
The New York Instances first reported information of the lawsuit.
Drew Dixon in 2022.
(John Lamparski / Getty Pictures)
Dixon had beforehand accused music mogul Russell Simmons of assaulting her in a 2017 New York Instances article and 2020 documentary “On the File.” (Mr. Simmons denied the allegations.)
Reid, 67, was a co-founder of the influential Atlanta report label LaFace, and in 2000 changed government Clive Davis atop Arista Information. He was instrumental in signing acts together with Usher, OutKast, Pink and Avril Lavigne to these labels.
When Reid took the highest job at Arista, Dixon, now 53, was an A&R government there, having beforehand labored with Simmons on the pioneering hip-hop label Def Jam. Dixon shepherded a variety of hits for Arista, together with Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Proper however It’s Okay” and Carlos Santana’s “Maria Maria.”
Dixon’s swimsuit alleges that in 2001, on a non-public flight to an organization occasion in Puerto Rico, Reid “requested her to take a seat subsequent to him to go over supplies for the presentation, after which he started taking part in along with her hair, kissing her and digitally penetrated her vulva with out her consent.”
Months later, Dixon says that she was in New York with Reid when he requested her to take heed to a demo recording of a brand new artist inside his automobile. “Shortly into the trip, Mr. Reid once more, with out Ms. Dixon’s permission or consent started to grope and kiss Ms. Dixon, who squirmed and pushed him away as Mr. Reid’s driver stared straight forward,” the swimsuit alleges. “When Mr. Reid complained and have become visibly irritated along with her lack of compliance, Ms. Dixon froze. Mr. Reid once more digitally penetrated Ms. Dixon’s vulva with out her consent.”
Dixon claims that, after the 2 incidents, “Mr. Reid would straight reply to Ms. Dixon’s rejection of his sexual advances by punishing the artists Ms. Dixon had already signed or by blocking the artists she tried to signal,” which included future superstars Kanye West and John Legend.
She left the label in 2002 to pursue an MBA at Harvard, and although she sporadically labored in music afterwards, she stated she struggled to proceed her profession. “After her experiences with Mr. Reid, Ms. Dixon gave up her profession,” the swimsuit states. “Unable to bounce again from Mr. Reid’s sexual assaults, harassment, and his constant tethering of his sexual advances to skilled obstacles that he positioned in Ms. Dixon’s path; Ms. Dixon grew to become depressed and dejected, in the end abandoning her skilled ardour and experience.”
After these alleged incidents, Reid grew to become a decide on “The X Issue” and took the highest job at Epic Information in 2011, the place he oversaw chart-topping information from Future and Travis Scott. In 2017, Reid resigned from Epic after a feminine assistant accused him of sexual harassment. In 2018, he based Hitco, a label that’s launched music from Jennifer Lopez and Large Boi of Outkast. His newest enterprise is Mega, a music collective he co-founded with Usher.
Dixon’s swimsuit comes after passage of the Grownup Survivors Act, a New York regulation that opened a one-year interval for civil lawsuits from anybody above the age 18 after they declare they have been abused or assaulted. The regulation’s timeline for submitting such fits closes on Nov. 24.
“Because of the ASA, a whole lot of survivors within the state of New York have already held their abusers accountable,” Dixon stated to The Instances. “Right this moment I discovered the braveness to affix them.”
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