Antonio “L.A.” Reid reached a settlement Monday with Drew Dixon, a former record company executive who sued him alleging sexual assault and retaliation that harmed her career, the Associated Press reported.
The terms of Reid’s settlement with Dixon were not made public. Dixon, smiling with her family and lawyers outside court, told reporters, “I’m excited to get back to making music.” She also described the litigation as an “arduous process,” while her mother, former Washington, D.C., Mayor Sharon Pratt, called it an “excruciating journey.”
Reid’s attorney, Imran H. Ansari, said in a statement that “Mr. Reid has amicably resolved this matter with Ms. Dixon without any admission of liability.”
Dixon’s lawyer, Kenya Davis, said musicians John Legend and Aku Orraca-Tetteh and recording executive Roy Lott were among the witnesses who had been set to testify on Dixon’s behalf. The lawsuit was resolved the same day jury selection was slated to begin in New York in a trial over Dixon’s claims, AP reported.
The AP account said Dixon worked for Reid when he was Arista’s chief executive. Dixon alleged that Reid sexually assaulted her twice in 2001 and later cut her budget and sidelined artists after she rebuffed his continuing advances. Dixon left Arista in 2002 and contended that her “meteoric trajectory” in the music business was cut short by Reid’s harassment.
Davis said the settlement will empower Dixon “to move forward with her creative pursuits on her own terms, with her reputation, her voice, and her career reaffirmed.” Dixon told reporters that she hoped her work as an advocate for the Adult Survivors Act would help “bring all of us closer to a music business that is safer for everyone,” adding: “And in a world where good news is often hard to find, I hope that survivors today see a ray of light peeking through the clouds.”
In a written statement, Dixon said music has always been her “greatest source of comfort and joy.” She also said, “While I have focused on sexual assault advocacy in recent years, I have never stopped fighting for my place in this industry,” and that she has “big ideas for future projects that will be guided by creativity and integrity.”
Reid is a 10-time Grammy nominee and three-time winner, the AP reported. He and producing partner Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds cofounded LaFace Records, which was responsible for hits from acts including Boyz II Men, Outkast and TLC. He later ran labels including Arista, Island Def Jam and Sony’s Epic Records, and the AP said he is credited with influencing careers of stars including Usher, Pink and Mariah Carey.
The AP reported that Dixon sued Reid in 2023 under New York State’s Adult Survivors Act, which had provided sex abuse accusers a one-year window to sue even if the statute of limitations had passed. The AP also noted that Reid left Epic Records in 2017 after a former female assistant accused him of sexual harassment, and that Dixon went public with her allegations in 2017 and detailed them in the 2020 documentary “On the Record.”
Outside the courthouse, AP said it does not typically name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.
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