Record exec L.A. Reid settles sexual assault lawsuit
Record executive Antonio “L.A.” Reid has settled a sexual assault lawsuit from former employee Drew Dixon, avoiding a jury trial that was set to begin Monday.
In 2023, Dixon filed a lawsuit under the New York Adult Survivors Act, alleging abuse from Reid including sexual harassment, assault and retaliation while she worked under him as an A&R representative at Arista Records.
Dixon alleged in her suit that Reid “digitally penetrated her vulva without her consent” on a private plane in 2001, and groped and kissed her against her will in another incident months later. She claims in her suit that Reid retaliated against her after she spurned his advances, berating her in front of staff after she brought in a young Kanye West for a label audition.
Reid said in court filings that he “adamantly denies the allegations,” but they contributed to the former mogul’s declining reputation within the music industry, after Reid left Epic Records in 2017 following separate claims of harassment.
Reid’s attorney Imran H. Ansari said in a statement to The Times that “Mr. Reid has amicably resolved this matter with Ms. Dixon without any admission of liability.” Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
In a statement to The Times, Dixon said that “I hope my work as an advocate for the Adult Survivors Act helps to bring us closer to a safer music business for everyone. In a world where good news is often hard to find, I hope for survivors that today is a ray of light peeking through the clouds. Music has always been my greatest source of comfort and joy. Even as a kid, I had an uncanny knack for predicting the next cool artist or album, the more eclectic the better. While I have focused on sexual assault advocacy in recent years, I have never stopped fighting for my place in this industry.”
The jury trial was slated to have testimony from some high-profile figures including John Legend, whom Dixon had tried to sign to the label. Dixon also accused the Def Jam mogul Russell Simmons of sexual assault in a 2017 New York Times article and in the 2020 documentary “On The Record.”