Mike Greene, the former president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, has been sued for sexual assault by the former head of the Los Angeles chapter of the Academy, who says he drugged and raped her in 1994.
In the suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Terri McIntyre accuses Greene of repeatedly harassing and assaulting her over the course of two years at the Recording Academy, which allegedly “engaged in a cover up” by hiding evidence of his history of sexual misconduct and had a “pattern and practice” of buying the silence of his other victims through the illegal use of confidentiality agreements.
In a statement, the Recording Academy said: “In light of pending litigation, the Academy declines to comment on these allegations, which occurred nearly 30 years ago. Today’s Recording Academy has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual misconduct and we will remain steadfast in that commitment.”
Greene couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. He resigned from the Academy in 2002 amid scrutiny around his leadership, which included allegations of assault and harassment, as well as claims of mismanaging funds.
The suit was filed on the heels of a woman in November accusing Neil Portnow, former head of the Grammy Awards, of raping her in a New York hotel in 2018. Also named in the complaint was the Recording Academy, which allegedly neglected to conduct an investigation into the incident to protect its reputation. Portnow was among a series of powerful men in the industry accused of assault by women filing suits under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which revived the window to bring sexual misconduct claims for one year.
According to the complaint, Greene told McIntyre when she was hired in 1994 that he “expected her to perform sexual acts” in order to “remain employed and progress” at the Recording Academy.
After rebuffing his advances, McIntyre alleges Greene invited her and other employees to his hotel room following an annual meeting of trustees in Hawaii to celebrate with champagne. The suit claims she began to “feel unwell” and “lose control of her physical movements” as she noticed others leaving.
“The next thing Plaintiff recalls is waking up nude in Defendant Greene’s bed,” states the complaint, which notes that he regularly groped McIntyre.
Another assault occurred at Greene’s Malibu residence, the suit says. Under the guise of visiting a site being considered for an upcoming event, Greene allegedly tricked McIntyre into riding his car. Instead of going to the site, he drove to his house, where he forced her to perform oral sex, according to the complaint. The suit states, “Plaintiff tried to get away from Defendant Greene, but Defendant Greene maintained his firm hold on Plaintiff’s head as Plaintiff gagged.”
McIntyre claims that the Recording Academy, which allegedly didn’t have a human resources department at the time, had no process for reporting misconduct. When she reached out to higher-ups in the organizations to express concerns about feeling unsafe around Greene, they allegedly reminded her of his power “in the music industry as a whole” and said he was “beyond reproach, bulletproof, and that there was nothing” they could do to help her.
According to the complaint, the Recording Academy and Greene offered severance packages and payments to multiple female employees in exchange for signing nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements. The suit also points to settlements, including one for $650,000, to resolve complaints stemming from Greene’s sexual harassment.
McIntyre says she didn’t report the incidents to law enforcement due to threats from Greene that he would “blackball” her in the music industry, where he had a vast network of contacts as one of its most prominent figures. She resigned in 1996 after two years at the Recording Academy.
The complaint claims sexual battery, assault and negligence, among several other claims stemming from the Recording Academy’s alleged tolerance of Greene’s history of sexual misconduct.
