Danny Elfman sued on claims of defamation after sexual harassment settlement

Danny Elfman has been sued on claims of defamation, relating to an interview he gave to Rolling Stone last year about an ongoing sexual harassment settlement.

In 2018, Elfman (a musician and composer known for his many iconic film scores, including several collaborations with director Tim Burton) entered into a settlement with younger composer Nomi Abadi, who accused him of multiple instances of sexual harassment. As part of the settlement, Elfman agreed to pay a total of $830,000 in damages over multiple installments. After Elfman apparently neglected to pay the full amount, Abadi sued him last year for the remaining $85,000.

In response to the lawsuit, Elfman gave an interview to Rolling Stone last July in which he roundly disputed Abadi’s allegations, saying he had “done nothing indecent or wrong” and accusing her of intending “to break up my marriage and replace my wife.”

Now, Abadi is suing him again. In the complaint, obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Abadi and her team argue that Elfman and his representatives made multiple statements about her in the interview which “were not merely false and unconscionable, but defamatory.” In particular, Abadi stands by her accusation that Elfman once presented her with a martini glass full of his own semen (which made her feel “disgusted, belittled, isolated, and scared”) and that his representatives’ claim to Rolling Stone that it was actually full of moisturizing cream was false and “defamed Nomi.”

Representatives for Elfman did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment on this latest lawsuit.

This alleged defamation is important, Abadi’s team argues, because film composers are “a small and concentrated community where most careers are cultivated entirely by personal connections and through word-of-mouth. The film composing industry is also disproportionately compromised of men…and one of the few remaining areas of the entertainment industry with no union or governing body.”

Abadi cultivated a friendship with Elfman, who she’d looked up to for years, to develop her music and career, but he allegedly used their sessions to mastrubate in front of her and coerce her into posing for nude photographs, according to the complaint.

“Nomi did not immediately pursue litigation, but watched vigilantly to ascertain whether the effects of the defamations would be as devastating on her career as she feared,” the complaint reads. “Unfortunately, they were. Nomi has been effectively blacklisted in her chosen profession.”

Notably, Abadi’s lawsuit was filed by attorney Eric George (who previously represented Amber Heard in the early stages of her legal battle with Johnny Depp), and Elfman is reportedly being represented by Camille Vasquez (who represented Depp in his much-publicized trial with Heard).