The Hollywood famed composer who has created music for iconic shows and movies is being sued for failing to pay settlement to his alleged victim after she signed NDA.
- Jul 22, 2023
AceShowbiz - Danny Elfman is taken to court for allegedly failing to make settlement payments over allegations of sexual harassment. The award-winning composer - who worked on "The Simpsons" theme song as well as the music for "Wednesday", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Spider-Man", and many other movies and TV shows - agreed to pay Nomi Abadi $830,0000 after she served a non-disclosure agreement after accusing him of harassing her in 2015 and 2016, though he has denied anything untoward happened.
In a police report filed by the pianist in November 2017 and discovered by Rolling Stone magazine, Nomi alleged the 70-year-old musician exposed himself and masturbated in front of her, with LAPD categorising the allegations as "indecent exposure."
According to the outlet, Elfman allegedly coerced Nomi into a nude photo shoot and presented her with a glass of what she claimed he told her was semen.
Elfman - who has daughters Lola and Mali with ex-wife Geri Eisenmenger and son Oliver with wife Bridget Fonda - has denied the "vicious and wholly false allegations" and insisted the woman was out for revenge when he spurned her advances.
He told Rolling Stone, "How do I respond to accusations so serious that being innocent is not a valid defense? 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 realised 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. 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."
And the musician's representative insisted the pair's "limited interactions" did not "involve sexual contact" and were "fully consensual" and claimed the settlement was a reaction to the #MeToo movement.
The spokesperson said, "When faced with threats from the other party to go public with untruths at the height of the #MeToo movement, [Elfman] faced the impossible choice between settling and continuing his career and earning a living for his family or deciding to fight what at the time was an unwinnable battle to tell the truth - Danny chose his family."
"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."
But Nomi's friends claimed she signed the NDA feeling "she had little choice." A source said, "She felt her career would be over if she said Elfman was a creep. And she's right. I'm sorry to say, but that's still unfortunately how this industry works."
And a lawyer representing the Grammy-nominated composer disputed Elfman's version of event. Jeff Anderson of Anderson and Associates told Variety, "Elfman has said that his relationship to Nomi Abadi was platonic and consensual. His account is as bizarre as his conduct towards her was years ago. It was not platonic. It was bizarre."
Nomi lodged a breach of contract complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this week, in which her team wrote "the parties agreed to resolve an underlying dispute" in July 2018, which included Elfman agreeing to make four payments over five years, with some given to charity, not directly to his accuser.
While the documents lodged don't mention the reason for the settlement, Rolling Stone reported that based on multiple sources and documents that the dispute refers to claims of sexual misconduct."
A spokesperson for the veteran composer branded the latest lawsuit "another stunt." His representative told Variety, "While we can't comment on a lawsuit that we haven't received, the fact that it has made its way to the media before the defendant further shows that this is another stunt in a years-long campaign to demand money from Mr. Elfman and his family. The allegations are baseless."
