L.A Reid Accused Of Sexual Assault And Harassment

Antonio “L.A.” Reid, the Grammy Award-winning music govt who influenced the careers of stars like Usher, P!nk, and Mariah Carey, has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by former Arista A&R Vice President Drew Dixon.

In accordance with courtroom paperwork obtained by the New York Occasions, Dixon alleges that the music mogul assaulted her twice when she was employed beneath Arista within the early 2000s. The music producer and activist claims that Reid “retaliated towards her” after she rejected his sexual advances.

Dixon, who oversaw the recordings of legendary hits made by stars like Whitney Houston, Methodology Man, and Carlos Santana, claims that she was the sufferer of Reid’s “sexualizing and harassing habits” on multiple event, in accordance with the swimsuit filed in Manhattan Federal District Court docket Nov. 8.

In January 2001, Dixon flew to Puerto Rico with Reid for a company-wide retreat on a non-public airplane, however she alleges that there have been no different workers on board.  The music exec, who’s now a board member of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, alleges that the trade big “requested her to take a seat subsequent to him to go over supplies for the presentation, after which he started enjoying along with her hair, kissing her and digitally penetrated her vulva with out her consent.”

Later that yr, the previous Def Jam A&R claims that she was assaulted once more by Reid when she accepted a trip dwelling from a piece occasion within the music exec’s chauffeured automotive. In accordance with the swimsuit, Reid allegedly “groped, kissed and penetrated her with out consent,” Reuters famous.

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In her criticism, Dixon states that she was on the top of her profession, with many trade insiders branding her because the “feminine Rick Rubin” because of her iconic work in Arista’s A&R division. She was concerned with the manufacturing of notable hits together with Whitney Houston’s “My Love Is Your Love” and Carlos Santana’s “Maria Maria.” In her explosive swimsuit, Dixon says it turned clear Reid’s troubling habits would “stifle” her promising music profession.

After she started to reject Reid’s inappropriate advances, the music exec alleges that the LaFace Data co-founder tried to embarrass her “in entrance of others” and displayed unprofessionalism.

“Promotional and recording budgets had been instantly lowered dramatically or frozen altogether. Tune demos and artist auditions had been flatly rejected,” the lawsuit states.

Dixon alleges that Reid’s egregious habits started shortly after he took over Arista following Clive Davis’ departure in 2000. The attention-brow-raising lawsuit falls beneath the Adults Survivors Act, a New York regulation that was established in 2022 that provides victims of assault a one-year window to file a civil lawsuit towards their abuser in the event that they had been over the age of 18 on the time of the incident. The window closes on Nov. 24.

This isn’t the primary time Dixon has accused a outstanding music determine of sexual assault.

In 2017, the document exec publicly accused Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons of rape. In her lawsuit towards Reid, Dixon alleges that Simmons raped her in 1995, however he’s not named as a defendant within the criticism. Dixon was featured within the 2020 HBO Max documentary On the File which particulars sexual misconduct accusations by girls towards the hip-hop mogul.