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https://variety.com/2023/music/news/danny-elfman-accused-sexual-harassment-1235590343/
This would have been very high on a hypothetical list of things I never wanted to happen.
Really surprised by the lack of conversation about this online (not just here).
I wonder if this affects Elfman’s upcoming projects. If he gets kicked off Beetlejuice 2, he’s probably finished.
Oh ffsā¦
I kinda of thought of it sometimes while contemplating my CDs collection of his, āIf the guy ends being a creep, Iāll look like an idiotā.Of course, he might be innocent but it doesnāt smell too good by the content of the article and I think the victim should always be believed first; so thereās no reason to think otherwise here.
Weāll see what the coming weeks have in store but itās probably the end of his career.
I just donāt get why so many men feel the need to behave like that. And I am one.
I’m with you. Elfman’s response reads really badly. I can’t believe his people approved that.
He has shows in the next week. We’ll see if they go ahead.
Such an awful situation.
I’m also surprised by the lack of conversation about this. The Variety article omits some details. Here’s the original Rolling Stone article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/danny-elfman-nomi-abadi-sexual-harassment-allegation-1234791842/
Keep in mind this article was written before Elfman had even received the lawsuit.
I don’t know if I buy this. Abadi visited Elfman multiple times for a year AFTER he had allegedly acted inappropriately towards her, and even flew to Paris with him and took nude photos. If she’s telling the truth, would she have continued to visit him for so long after the fact? Two of Abadi’s friends think she’s lying. Of course, I will change my mind if more evidence is provided, but right now some things just don’t add up.
Yeah, reading the original Rolling Stone article nuances quite a bit the depiction of the situation that the Variety one presented. Obviously, some “things” happened but what and to what extent, it’s not really clear from the information we have (and we’ll perhaps never know more). Enough happened for Elfman to settle for a paid solution in the first place, however; so it doesn’t put him in a good spot in my book.
I guess we’ll see but I agree with Thor, whatever the truth is, it’s not good.
As for the lack of coverage, my take is that, as high profile Hollywood composer that he is, he still “only” is a film composer, accused by a relatively unknown person. I imagine it doesn’t make a dramatic enough title these days.
If Elfman did nothing wrong, you can’t blame him for settling to make her go away in the first place. In these days where you’re guilty until proven innocent, he would’ve been “cancelled” for years, or indefinitely. The Depp case is an obvious example.
I listened to some Abadi interviews last week when the site was down. I know that we will never really know what happened, but I wanted to know as much as possible. Elfman’s my favourite musician, but people very close to me have survived abuse and I always choose to believe victims first. She comes across as very intelligent, and the survivors group that she created sounds wonderful. All the points she makes about the industry are true.
The interviews I listened to largely corroborate with what was written in the Rolling Stone article. Elfman isn’t referred to by name, obviously, but it’s clear from the context who she is talking about (someone she idolised, a huge name…). She lost contact with a lot of people, including friends, mentors and her therapist, who didn’t believe her. (The Rolling Stone article mentions that some of Adabi’s closest friends didn’t believe her, and they are referred to here.) But her career soon took off in a positive way once she removed herself from the situation. (I noticed on IMDB that she’s worked with Raimi’s wife twice and appeared in Oz, so I can’t help but wonder if that is a lost contact.)
One thing did jump out. In one interview, she alleges that her abuser has done this to ‘many’ other women, specifying it happened to a woman in the 1990s. She says this at 32:35 in the following interview: https://www.ellajarmanpinto.com/beyond-the-chameleon/nomi-abadi
She knows that if the story were to break, there are lot of texts messages that will be used against her as it took her a long time to realise she was being abused.
However, in a subsequent interview, she alleges that she doesn’t know if her abuser has done this to any other women. She says this at 47:55 in the following interview: https://empoweredartistcollective.podbean.com/e/57-composing-for-film-tv-with-nomi-abadi/
So yeah, it’s all very messy.
Even if Elfman were to be able to prove that no abuse took place, he still failed to make payments that he agreed to make. I don’t know legal matters, but that sounds like a hard case to win to me. I guess we’ll have to wait.
Thank you for the write-up, I’ll listen to the podcasts If I have time. I mostly share your view on the topic, even though we indeed don’t know the full story (and we probably never will).
It’s just really sad and clearly leaves me with a bitter taste (to say the least) regarding Elfman’s work. I never idolized personalities, I’m always a fan of what they bring to the world. I rolled my eyes during a few Elfman’s interviews, when he was commenting some other topics and I wouldn’t relate to it. Who cares, I like the music, not the man.
But I just can’t continue to enjoy Elfman’s work as I used to, from now on. Whatever people do in their private life is their business, as long as all parties involved are very much aware and at ease with what they are doing. Even if Elfman never did something wrong “legally”, if he abused of his name and fame to lead another person in a territory she wasn’t comfortable with, it’s already too much.
Unfortunately, there’s another accusation. I’m one to believe the vast majority of women when they say they were abused, but in my opinion both of these stories seem very iffy and full of holes. What does everyone else think of this?
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-10-20/danny-elfman-is-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-a-second-woman-alleging-abuse-when-she-was-a-young-composerGrim.
I don’t think I’ll be able to listen to his music until more comes out about this.
One important piece of information that’s missing from most of the write-ups this time is that this lady and Abadi have the same lawyer.
I don’t know. My BS meter is going haywire on these accusations, especially Abadi’s. Can’t stand her.
A judge granted film and television composer Danny Elfmanās motion to order a woman to arbitrate rather than litigate her claims he breached the terms of a sexual harassment settlement agreement and owes $85,000.
Woman Ordered to Arbitrate Settlement Contract Breach Suit Against Elfman
Airmail have done an extensive write-up of the Elfman/Abadi saga. You need to provide your email to read.
Composer Danny Elfman’s Complicated #MeToo Story: Jacob Bernstein Reports – Air Mail
It’s filled with quotes and text messages. It also details the Raimi connection which I previously noted. It seems compelling….
The link would help.
https://airmail.news/issues/2025-3-29/the-alien-and-the-fawn
There’s also a podcast interview with the journalist Jacob Bernstein. It’s a very complicated story and sure sounds like an attempted hit job from his one accuser based on Bernstein’s research and access to text messages:
https://airmail.news/issues/2025-3-29/morning-meeting-episode-237
I’m naturally predisposed to side with Elfman here, but the information presented does seem very compelling. Some of those texts from Abadi are chilling.
I read the article and listened to the podcast and while we do have more information and details now, it’s still a hard situation to unravel because of its “I say, You say” nature. The journalist does make it rather clear that there are inconsistencies in Nomi’s testimonies, and I get the feeling he is leaning towards a “flirting going wrong” interpretation of the case; especially since he says that there is no evidence that Nomi was ever employed by Elfman. It’s still very much possible that Elfman used his position to try to seduce a younger aspiring composer, which I suppose is not illegal but the expression of the masculine toxicity that is plaguing Hollywood nonetheless.
Anyway, this still confirms that Elfman is probably semi-cancelled in Hollywood and that his recent push towards his rock career & concerts is not only the expression of a choice but a strategic move to where the money can still be coming in.
He mentioned recording another rock album back in 2023, before the article was released. I’m not really convinced there’s an audience for this stuff. It seems to me that people going to the rock concerts are doing so for the Boingo material. But, yeah, all these conventions and meet-and-greets do suggest that his income has taken a big hit.
Between winning the Emmy for Wednesday, making the BAFTA/Oscar longlist for Best Original Score for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and winning the Saturn Award for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, there’s evidently still some industry support. Though Elfman was apparently locked in his house during Beetlejuice promo, he still had his name associated with a massive hit. Scoring a European movie for a semi-disgraced director (Dracula) and an indie film for one of his friends (Dead Man’s Wire) doesn’t really tell us much, but that’s already more film work than 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 and the same amount as in 2022. He also has ‘Dark Universe’ opening soon, and he’s recording his cello concerto this fall.
I think whether or not he’s involved with Wednesday Season 2 and/or Raimi’s Send Help will be telling. If he’s working with Netflix on one of their biggest shows and with Disney for Send Help, I think he’ll continue to work in that ‘part time film composer’ space he occupied in the few years leading up to the accusations.
It’s his classical composing that seems to have taken the hit: no new commissions in over two years (that we know of anyway).
Through my interactions with Nomi Abadi and the Female Composer Safety League (FCSL)āand based on receipts and documentation Iāve recently obtained, including an email received todayāI have come to believe the organization may have engaged in conduct that allegedly contradictsā¦ pic.twitter.com/CqddnYHmOI
— Eiko Ishiwata (@eikoishiwata) April 2, 2025
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