A few days ago, Billboard reported that the music-industry legend L.A. Reid has been removed as chairman and CEO of Epic Records. The ouster came as a surprise. By most accounts, Reid’s tenure at the label had been productive; he’d overseen recent successful efforts from people like Future, DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor, and a Tribe Called Quest. But now, we have a bit more perspective. According to the New York Post, Epic’s parent company Sony fired Reid because of allegations of sexual harassment.
The Post report claims that Reid, who is 60 and married,
“allegedly made inappropriate physical advances toward an assistant at last December’s company holiday party, among other instances.” Those claims come from a letter that a lawyer for the unnamed assistant sent to Sony Music’s general counsel. It also claims, per the Post, that Reid “asked her to lie down in bed with him and give him a hug while the two were at a hotel while traveling on business.”
The Post quotes a Sony insider as saying,
“We are not allowing a culture like that in this company, no matter how much a person brings to the bottom line.”