Hollywood composer Danny Elfman accused of sexual harassment by a second woman

Danny Elfman has been named by yet another woman in an alleged sexual harassment case. After the first case went public, a second woman has come forward with her claims of sexual harassment, much like the first one that was revealed in July. The woman remains anonymous and is named Jane Doe XX in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In the new lawsuit, Jane Doe XX alleges that Danny Elfman harassed her during a period from 1997 to 2002. It all started when she was just a 21-year-old film student and he was a successful Hollywood composer. Danny Elfman is best known for his work in Edward Scissorhands among other titles.

Post the lawsuit was filed, a spokesperson for Danny said, “The allegations of misconduct made against Mr. Elfman are baseless and absurd. His legal team is assessing all options and he will vigorously defend these claims in court.”

What is the lawsuit about?

Reportedly, the woman and Danny Elfman had a mentor-protegé relationship to begin with. After a certain time of knowing one another, she claims that Danny would strip naked and expose himself during their meetings. Early in the relationship, she was visiting him at the Mercer Hotel in New York. According to the suit, he took off all his clothes and stood naked in front of the window. She alleges that he then coerced her into doing the same thing.

She felt uncomfortable and quickly put her clothes back on, according to the suit. The next time they saw each other, he got naked again and allegedly insisted that she watch him take a bath. Over the course of the next five years, this became a regular occurrence, the suit states.

Danny Elfman would remove his clothing “until he was completely nude, and walked around nude in front of Plaintiff, exposing his genitals. Defendant Elfman expressed to Plaintiff that this was the only way he could work, be creative and successful.” According to the complaint, she felt she could not say anything about this because she was lucky to be in the position she was in.

This continued and Danny would sleep naked under covers while the woman would sleep with her clothes on above the covers. This happened about 40 times up until the time she felt ashamed. In 2002, Danny revealed to her, “Every time you have ever slept next to me, I would masturbate next to you.” This ended their relationship as the woman revealed that she experienced “shock, humiliation and shame.” She said she later revealed the situation to others in Danny Elfman’s circle but was told there was nothing she could do because of “who he is.”

This is when Jane Doe XX thought of reporting

In the lawsuit, Jane Doe XX reveals that she decided to come forward after reading that Nomi Abadi, a pianist and composer, levelled similar allegations against Elfman for his conduct in 2015 and 2016. Abadi obtained a $830,000 settlement but sued Danny Elfman earlier this year for failing to pay the full amount. Meanwhile, Elfman has denied Abadi’s claims, saying the relationship was platonic and that their limited interactions were “fully consensual.”

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