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Film composer Danny Elfman — former Oingo Boingo frontman, frequent collaborator of Tim Burton and Sam Raimi, and voice of Jack Skellington — settled a sexual harassment lawsuit in 2018 for $830,000. We learned about this last year, when his accuser Nomi Abadi, a celebrated musician herself, had to sue him again because he had failed to make two scheduled payments per the terms of the settlement. Upon this second lawsuit, Elfman issued a statement to Rolling Stone to vehemently deny the allegations against him. Again, this on-the-record rebuttal from Elfman was five years after he had already settled with Abadi for nearly a million dollars. Well, Abadi is well lawyered up and taking sh-t from no one, because she just filed a third lawsuit against Elfman for defamation, based on his comments to Rolling Stone last year. Well played Ms. Abadi. Well played.
Composer Nomi Abadi has filed suit for defamation against composer Danny Elfman, according to media reports.
In the Los Angeles Superior Court suit, Abadi claims statements Elfman made to Rolling Stone last year “peddled appalling lies for publication to Rolling Stone about Nomi.”
The statements made by Elfman and his representatives dismissed Abadi’s allegations of sexual misconduct. Instead, the complaint claims Elfman and his team depicted Abadi as “a scorned woman seeking revenge and money to make Elfman ‘pay for having rejected her.’”
Attorney Eric George filed the defamation suit today on behalf of Abadi, as reported by Rolling Stone and several other media outlets.
Elfman’s statements were part of a Rolling Stone story published in July 2023. That story said that Elfman had a previously unreported settlement and nondisclosure agreement with Abadi. She accused him of multiple instances of sexual harassment and misconduct. Elfman denied those allegations.
Rolling Stone reported that the 2018 lawsuit alleged that Elfman exposed himself and masturbated in front of Abadi without her consent on several occasions. Elfman denied that he sexually harassed Abadi in the Rolling Stone article, issuing a statement that said, “Ms. Abadi’s allegations are simply not true.”
Elfman was the leader of the New Wave band Oingo Boingo, which had its biggest success in the 1980s. He has collaborated with Tim Burton on the films Batman and Edward Scissorhands, and with Sam Raimi on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He earned Oscar nominations for Men in Black, Good Will Hunting, Big Fish and Milk.
I’m a big nerd for film scores, so learning last year that Danny Elfman was a douchebag abuser and DARVO manipulator was really disappointing. Because he has composed some of the greatest film scores. Milk? There are tracks on that soundtrack that still give me chills, music so delicate that to this day I start to hear it in my head when I’m walking through falling snow. Elfman has pissed on his entire body of work, by being a gross person repeatedly towards a mentee and colleague, and again by taking zero responsibility. And I know we shouldn’t be judging people by their looks, but take a gander at this man. When we covered Elfman last year, my favorite of the comments was that he looks “like the It Clown Grandpa.”
So much respect for Abadi for taking him to task again. Some men really won’t stop unless they’re made to pay, literally. (And even then there’s no guarantee…) Barring some huge revelation and about-face, I think it’s safe to say that Danny Elfman is a lost cause. My question is: how much longer will we abide Tim Burton working with him on every project?
Photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon, Getty
