Danny Elfman sued for defamation after denying sexual misconduct claims
The first woman to publicly accuse Danny Elfman of sexual misconduct has sued the composer for defamation. Elfman previously denied any wrongdoing.
In July 2023, Los Angeles composer Nomi Abadi’s claims about Elfman were first revealed. She claimed he exposed himself to and sexually harassed her in 2016. It was also reported that they had entered a $830,000 settlement and NDA in 2017. However, a breach of contract lawsuit was lodged last year, with Abadi claiming that Elfman had missed two $42,500 payments.
The matter was put into arbitration at the end of 2023. Then, at the onset of July 2024, Abadi’s lawyers claimed that the arbitration had not yet been scheduled despite trying to collaborate with the composer’s lawyers to find a date.
Now, it is reported that Abadi sued Elfman for defamation on July 10th over defensive statements he made to Rolling Stone last year in an article detailing the allegations against him and the subsequent settlement.
“Defendant Danny Elfman peddled appalling lies for publication to Rolling Stone about Nomi, who had previously in an earlier lawsuit truthfully relayed facts corroborating his penchant to sexually abuse women,” the suit reads, via Rolling Stone. “Why? As part of a harebrained ‘zero sum’ scheme by Elfman to prop up his checkered reputation by destroying Nomi’s credibility.”
The defamation suit claims that Elfman defamed Abadi by not only denying all the allegations but also incorrectly depicting her as “a failed temptress who lied about him for reasons of revenge and greed.”
Elsewhere, it maintains that The Simpsons theme composer, defamed her by stating that she had pushed for nude photos when actually she had been “coerced” into doing so, as well as Eflman grabbing Abadi “by the wrist with his other hand, jamming her hand onto her genitals,” and instructing her to masturbate.
“Nomi was terrified, frozen, and pretended to appease Defendant Elfman,” the suit asserted. It then claims that Elfman demanded “Nomi ‘not to tell anyone about Paris’ or she would be ‘dead meat.’” It additionally claims that Elfman later apologised for his actions and “blamed it on losing control, stating that ‘something had gotten into him.’”
The final defamation claim centres around an alleged incident involving a martini glass filled with what Abadi alleges was semen, which Elfman previously vehemently said was the skincare product Cetaphil. Abadi claims he defamed her by denying the glass was filled with semen and by stating she knew it wasn’t. The suit says when presented with the glass, she “sat in silence, terrified, gagging from the putrid smell coming from the glass of white substance.”
“Defendant Elfman lied about Nomi, branding her as a scorned woman attempting to break up his marriage and as someone who initiated nude photography,” the suit maintains. “As a result of Elfman and his representatives’ defamations, Nomi has suffered humiliation, both personally and professionally, within their shared composing industry and online, and harm to her professional reputation and her occupation as a composer, musician, and educator.”
Abadi is requesting the court to award unspecified punitive and monetary damages.
In October last year, a second woman sued Danny Elfman for sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment and negligence.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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