L.A. Reid Sued over charges of sexual assault on former employer

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A former A&R staff of Arista Records, Drew Dixon has sued famous American record executive and former head of Arista Records and Epic Records, L.A. Reid for sexual assault.

Dixon in a suit filed on Wednesday (November 8) at Manhattan, alleged that Reid “sexually harassed her and refused to allow her to succeed unless she acquiesced to his demand to be alone and in close proximity to her, where he would create the opportunity to sexually assault her on two separate occasions.”

According to the suit, “This litigation is not only about the horrific physical assaults that Ms. Dixon had to endure. But it is also about the irreparable damage done to the rare and blossoming career of an extraordinary talent.”

Though Reid has yet to respond to the lawsuit and accusations, Dixon in a statement to Los Angeles Times described him as “a known predator, who uses his singular professional power to force himself on his victims.

She said, “In my case, his persistent campaign of sexual harassment and assault forced me to abandon the work I loved when I was at the top of my game in the music business, having worked my way up from internships and a job as a receptionist.”

Dixon also detailed an alleged assault from 2001 where Reid “digitally penetrated her vulva without her consent” and claimed that she was assaulted again by the music executive months later as he “again digitally penetrated [her] vulva without her consent”.

Dixon added that during her years of work at Arista, whenever she rejected his sexual advances, Reid would punish her by blocking the signing of artists she championed such as Kanye West and John Legend.

This is not the first time that L.A. Reid has been accused of sexual assault. In 2017, he left Epic Records after accusations he acted unlawfully towards an assistant, with Sony reaching a settlement with his accuser.

Drew Dixon has previously detailed that Reid behaved inappropriately towards her during her time at Arista.

In an interview with the New York Times in 2017, the former vice president of A&R at Arista said of Reid: “It was a quid pro quo: ‘I have power, you want access, sleep with me — or I’m going to be really mean to you the next day. And there will be consequences.”

Similarly, Dixon has also previously accused Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons of sexual assault, alleging that the music mogul raped her in 1995 — a claim Simmons has vehemently denied.

A total of 13 women accused Simmons of sexual assault including rape, resulting in him leaving his role at Def Jam. The accusations were detailed in the 2020 documentary On the Record, which featured Dixon prominently.