Getty / Photo by Manny Ruiz
Litigation filed in Los Angeles includes graphic allegations of misconduct by famed musician and songwriter
Composer Nomi Abadi is suing “Batman” and “Beetlejuice” composer Danny Elfman for defamation over statements he made to Rolling Stone last year that were included in an investigative story about a settlement he reached with his former protégé after she accused him of repeated sexual harassment and misconduct.
Abadi’s lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that Elfman “peddled appalling lies about Nomi to Rolling Stone magazine.” The list of alleged lies covers statements made by the Simpsons composer and his representatives that he had not engaged in sexual misconduct toward Abadi, had never masturbated in front of her, had never touched her inappropriately and “never placed his bodily fluids in a martini glass he presented to Nomi,” as she alleged. The lawsuit also criticized Elfman and his team for portraying Abadi as “a scorned woman seeking revenge and money to make Elfman pay for rejecting her.” Abadi claims Elfman suggested that she “invited Elfman to misbehave, including asking him to take nude photos of her.” As a result, “Nomi’s career ambitions (were) dashed.”
The complaint, obtained by Varietymarks the latest salvo fired by Abadi, a classically trained pianist and rising composer, against Elfman, a prolific film and television composer and founder of the pioneering New Wave band Oingo Boingo. Attorney Eric George, who represented Amber Heard during her early legal battles with ex-husband Johnny Depp, filed the lawsuit on Abadi’s behalf. George and Abadi declined to comment.
Elfman is represented by Camille Vasquez, who made her name helping her client Depp win a landslide victory over Heard in a televised trial in Virginia in 2022. Representatives for Elfman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elfman’s statements were part of a Rolling Stone article published in July 2023. That article revealed that Elfman had reached a previously unreported settlement and nondisclosure agreement with Abadi after she accused him of multiple instances of sexual harassment and misconduct that occurred between 2015 and 2016. (Through a lawyer, Elfman has denied the allegations.) For the article, Rolling Stone reported that it had unearthed a Los Angeles Police Department report filed by Abadi in which she alleged that Elfman exposed himself and masturbated in front of her multiple times without her consent. Rolling Stone also reported that Abadi is suing Elfman for failing to pay the full $830,000 settlement amount. Wednesday’s lawsuit is his second against Elfman filed in open court.
In October, a second woman accused Elfman of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit she filed under the name Jane Doe XX. The woman alleged in the complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, that Elfman exposed himself to her frequently during meetings that took place between 1997 and 2002. The complaint described the woman as a “protégé” of Elfman’s who was 21 when the alleged incidents began. (Elfman’s attorney called Jane Doe XX’s allegations “baseless and absurd.”)
In the complaint filed Wednesday, Abadi claims that “Elfman coerced her into[posing nude]” when he was 61 and she was 26 and “masturbated in front of Nomi, later apologizing to her and promising not to do it again.” The complaint also says the Grammy and Emmy winner “touched Nomi inappropriately, later apologizing to Nomi, and then threatened her in an attempt to keep his misdeeds a secret.” In the most bizarre subplot, Abadi’s complaint insists that Elfman’s reps falsely denied that he had put his semen in a martini glass and falsely claimed that Abadi knew it wasn’t semen. Elfman’s reps claimed in the Rolling Stone article that the glass was filled with Cetaphil moisturizer, and that Abadi knew it was a “stupid photo prop.” “In fact, Elfman had admitted to Nomi that he was presenting her with a glass filled with semen,” the complaint says.
Elfman’s story spread widely. “At least 20 prominent publications repeated Nomi and her representatives’ defamations,” the complaint adds. As a result, job opportunities reportedly dried up for the aspiring composer, whose credits include a series of short films and the 2023 film “Sebastian.” “Nomi suffers from PTSD, anxiety, depression, nervousness and fears for her personal safety.” following the online harassment caused by these defamations,” the complaint states.
The power imbalance between the two seems significant. Elfman, a four-time Oscar nominee represented by Kraft-Engel Management, remains one of the most sought-after composers in the industry, having created the instantly recognizable theme for The Simpsons and, more recently, the Netflix series Wednesday. Elfman, 71, is a frequent collaborator with Tim Burton, having scored most of his films, including Batman and 1989’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. He has also worked with A-list artists from Noah Baumbach to Sam Raimi. Upcoming films include Warner Bros.’ Beetlejuice Bettlejuice. Moreover, the composition industry is tight-knit, male-dominated and union-free. Mentorships are essential for young composers trying to break into the business.
But the mentor-mentee relationship can be fraught with difficulties. Abadi claims in his complaint that Elfman frequently undressed in what should have been a professional setting and “considered nudity an important part of his creative process and insisted that a nude environment did not mean a sexual environment.” The complaint continues: “On more than one occasion, Defendant Elfman berated Nomi for her beliefs that nudity is inappropriate in a studio environment and insisted that changing her conservative views on nudity would benefit her artistically.”
Elfman “also began regularly opening the door to his studio in his bathrobe, with the front of the robe open, exposing his genitals,” the suit alleges, and showed his accomplice a gallery of images on his laptop of Elfman nude with nude women, referring to them as his “special friends.” “Defendant Elfman was eager to prove to Nomi that other women had surrounded him nude ‘artistically’ and ‘non-sexually’ and strongly encouraged Nomi to do a similar photo shoot with him,” the suit alleges. “Nomi told Mr. Elfman that she found the photos stylistically appealing but felt uncomfortable with the idea. Defendant Elfman became angry with Nomi, berating her once again for her modesty.”
On a group trip to Paris, Elfman persuaded Abadi to participate in a photo shoot that he described as artistic and not sexual. But, according to the complaint, he “suddenly grabbed his penis with one hand and grabbed Nomi by the wrist with the other hand, pushing his hand down on her genitals,” the complaint states. “Nomi was taken aback and terrified. Defendant Elfman began to masturbate vigorously and asked Nomi to do the same to herself. Nomi was terrified, paralyzed, and pretended to appease Defendant Elfman. Relieved that the moment was over in seconds, Nomi was stunned and shaken. Nomi recalls Defendant Elfman staring at her with wide, startled eyes.” Defendant Elfman then removed the memory card from Nomi’s camera and returned the empty camera to Nomi, later saving the photos to his computer. Defendant Elfman instructed Nomi to “not tell anyone about Paris” or she would be “dead flesh.”
During one of their final meetings in 2016, a political conversation escalated into a shocking outburst by Elfman, the complaint alleges. When Abadi expressed his fear of presidential candidate Donald Trump and his support for candidate Bernie Sanders, Elfman responded, “We cannot have a Jew leading our country,” the complaint alleges. (Elfman is Jewish.) “The hours-long argument ended with Defendant Elfman yelling at Nomi, shaking his fist at her, his face red,” the complaint continues. “Nomi, already aware of Defendant Elfman’s temper, was terrified but remained calm. Defendant Elfman raised his voice at Nomi and yelled, ‘Fuck you and fuck your entire generation,’ at which point Nomi left his studio.”
In February 2023, Abadi spoke at a pre-Grammys press conference and pointed out that, although she is a member of the Recording Academy, she did not vote because the Grammy nominees included “abusers.” Elfman was nominated for a Grammy for Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Other women who spoke at the press conference decried the use of confidentiality agreements, pointing out that they are used by powerful men to silence women in the music industry.