Danny Elfman entered $830,000 settlement for sexual harassment allegations in 2018
Sexual harassment allegations against musician Danny Elfman have recently come to light after he failed to make the payments agreed in his $830,000 settlement.
In 2018, Elfman entered into a settlement with Nomi Abadi, who accused the musician of sexual harassment, including masturbating in front of her without consent and indecent exposure. The pair met in 2015 and began a working relationship, with Abadi accusing Elfman of taking advantage of the situation.
Abadi is now suing Elfman for failing to make two $42,500 payments. Court documents reveal that Elfman and Abadi “agreed to resolve an underlying dispute which included terms that [Elfman] would make payments in four different categories in various installments over the course of 5 years totaling $830,000.”
Elfman has vehemently denied all accusations of sexual misdemeanour. He responded to the claims by saying (via Rolling Stone), “How do I respond to accusations so serious that being innocent is not a valid defence? It is excruciating to consider that a 50-year career may be destroyed in one news cycle as a result of vicious and wholly false allegations about sexual misconduct.”
“Ms. Abadi’s allegations are simply not true. I allowed someone to get close to me without knowing that I was her ‘childhood crush’ and that her intention was to break up my marriage and replace my wife.”
“When this person realized that I wanted distance from her, she made it clear that I would pay for having rejected her. I allowed an ill-advised friendship to have far-reaching consequences, and that error in judgment is entirely my fault.”
He added, “I have done nothing indecent or wrong, and my lawyers stand ready to prove with voluminous evidence that these accusations are false. This is the last I will say on this subject.”
One of Elfman’s representatives added, “It is disappointing, but sadly not surprising, that this baseless narrative would be revived now that the payments have stopped. Accusations alone should not and do not equate to guilt, and Danny will defend himself and clear his name with the volume of evidence and the other party’s own words — her words speak for themselves.”
As the founder of the Female Composer Safety League, Abadi, a member of the Recording Academy, refused to vote in the Grammys this year (Elfman was nominated) because “I simply cannot fathom the idea of going along with an industry that allows silence-breakers to be vilified, or participating in a voting process that lauds abusers while some of us are barred from career opportunities because we spoke out.”
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