In the light of sex trafficking allegations against Sean »Diddy“Combs, Jean LegendTy Stiklorius’ longtime manager wrote a opinion article for The New York Times which details the music industry’s “pervasive predatory culture” that “actively encourages sexual misconduct and exploits the lives and bodies of those hoping to succeed in the industry.”

The piece, by Emmy Award-winning producer Stiklorius, founder of Friends at Work, a management company that works with Legend, among others, is called “The Music Industry is Toxic.” After P. Diddy we can clean it up.

Stiklorius begins by describing a yacht party in St. Barts she attended 27 years ago, hosted by Combs, where she says she managed to persuade an associate of the rapper to open a room door and escape. (The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Diddy’s reps for comment.) At the time, she says she didn’t realize exactly what she had gotten away with. “It was an indicator,” Stiklorius said. “Power has been concentrated in the hands of kingmakers: wealthy and empowered gatekeepers, almost always men, who control almost every door to success and who can, without consequence, use their power to abuse young women and girls. young men. »

Stiklorius reveals that women “are not safe in recording studios, on tour buses, in green rooms or in the office” in the music industry. And it’s not an industry bug, she says. “This is a major feature.”

“After P. Diddy’s arrest, some observers wondered whether the industry would finally face the toll of ‘#MeToo,’” Stiklorius writes. “But reducing the scourge of sexual coercion, harassment and violence to a few notorious individuals – whether Harvey Weinstein or R. Kelly – suggests they are outliers and obscures the systemic rot more overwhelming, more tenacious which has infected the music sector.”

She affirms that there is hope and that these gatekeepers have less power than before: “They can still brandish the keys to success in front of young artists, but the barriers are changing. »

Stiklorius refers to the Gen Z star Chappell Roanwho was forced to fight with her label to release the hit “Pink Pony Club”. The label dropped her when marketing plans failed to yield hits, but Roan returned to her hometown and released music independently, eventually building a fan base on social media that she used to leverage new distribution and financial backing. “In doing so, she demonstrated a new truth: the days of the guardians are numbered,” writes Stiklorius.

She continues: “My early experiences with predators, and those that made them possible, almost led me to abandon the music business. A few years after the boat incident, while pursuing my MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, I attended a dinner where a music director slipped his key card under the table. , a subtle invitation to his hotel room. I refused. …I only persisted in the industry because in 2005, an old college friend who was starting to find success as an artist contacted me. This artist was Jean Legend and, 20 years later, I am still his manager and partner in several companies. It turns out that many artists, including John, want to be part of a different business and cultural model.

There is a path forward to turn the page on this culture of exploitation and abuse, Stiklorius concludes in the editorial. She writes: “How many other women have had experiences similar to mine and given up on their ambition to become artists – let alone a recording engineer, producer or manager? How many women have been coerced, abused, assaulted and silenced on their way to their dreams – trapped by men who controlled access and made us believe that the key to the kingdom was the key card to their hotel room?

The producer concludes by saying that the industry owes it to the countless survivors of sexual assault and misconduct, “who have suffered in silence to uncover the truth… We owe it to the next generation of creators to turn the business into something worthy of the art they created. create.”

Just this week, Combs was charged in one of two lawsuits filed Monday drugging and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a New York hotel room in 2005. The second lawsuit accuses the jailed hip-hop mogul of similarly assaulting a 17-year-old potential contestant on the reality series. Make the group in 2008.

They were filed in New York State Supreme Court and are the latest in a wave of complaints. 120 pursuits in which accusers claim they were sexually assaulted by Combs at parties and get-togethers over the past two decades.

The musician’s lawyers said: “Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the legal process. In court, the truth will prevail: Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone – man or woman, adult or minor.