Composer Nomi Abadi is suing ‘Batman’ and ‘Beetlejuice’ composer Danny Elfman for defamation stemming from statements he made to Rolling Stone last year that were included in an investigative piece about a settlement he made with his former protégé after she killed him accused of repeated sexual harassment and misconduct.
Abadi’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Elfman “spread hideous lies for publication to Rolling Stone about Nomi.” The list of alleged lies includes statements from the Simpsons composer and his representatives who claimed he did not engage in sexual misconduct toward Abadi, never masturbated in front of her, never touched her inappropriately and “never put his bodily fluids in a martini did. glass that he presented to Nomi,” as she claimed. The complaint also condemned 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 she “provoked Elfman’s misconduct, including by requesting that he take nude photographs of her.” As a result, “Nomi’s career ambitions [were left] in pieces.”
The complaint, obtained by Variety, marks the final salvo that Abadi, a classically trained pianist and emerging composer, fires at Elfman, a prolific composer working in film and television and founder of the seminal New Wave band Oingo Boingo. Attorney Eric George, who represented Amber Heard in the early stages of her legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp, filed the lawsuit on Abadi’s behalf. George and Abadi declined comment.
Elfman is represented by Camille Vasquez, who made a name for himself by helping client Depp achieve victory over Heard in a televised Virginia trial in 2022. Representatives for Elfman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Elfman’s statements were part of a Rolling Stone story which was published in July 2023. That story revealed that Elfman entered into a previously unreported settlement and nondisclosure agreement with Abadi after she accused him of multiple incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct that occurred between 2015 and 2016. (Through an attorney, Elfman denied those allegations.) For the story, Rolling Stone reported that it had unearthed a Los Angeles Police Department report filed by Abadi in which she alleged Elfman exposed himself and masturbated in front of her multiple times without her consent. Rolling Stone also reported that Abadi sued Elfman for failure to pay the full $830,000 settlement amount. Wednesday’s lawsuit is her second against Elfman filed in open court.
In October, a second woman accused Elfman of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit she filed as Jane Doe XX. The woman alleged in the complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, that Elfman regularly exposed himself to her during gatherings that took place from 1997 to 2002. In that lawsuit, the woman was described as a 21-year-old “protégé” of Elfman when the woman alleged incidents started. (Elfman’s attorney called Jane Doe XX’s allegations “baseless and absurd.”)
In the suit filed Wednesday, Abadi alleges that “Elfman forced her to do so [posing nude]when he was 61 and she was 26 and “masturbated in front of Nomi, then apologized and promised not to do it again.” The complaint also says the Grammy and Emmy winner “inappropriately touched Nomi, then apologized to Nomi and later threatened her in an attempt to keep his misdeeds secret.” In the most bizarre subplot, Abadi’s lawsuit highlights that Elfman’s representatives falsely denied that he put his semen in a martini glass and falsely claimed that Abadi knew it wasn’t semen. Elfman’s representatives claimed in the Rolling Stone story that the glass was filled with the moisturizer Cetaphil, and that the Abadi knew it was a “stupid photo prop.” “Elfman admitted to Nomi that he offered her a glass full of semen,” the complaint states.
Elfman’s story spread widely. “At least 20 high-profile publications repeated his and his representatives’ defamations of Nomi,” the complaint adds. As a result, job opportunities may have dried up for the aspiring composer, whose credits include a series of short films and the 2023 film “Sebastian.” “Nomi has suffered from PTSD, anxiety, depression, nervousness and fear for her personal safety in the wake of online harassment resulting from this defamation,” the complaint states.
The balance of power between the two seems significant. Elfman, a four-time Oscar nominee and represented by Kraft-Engel Management, remains one of the most sought-after composers in the industry. He created the instantly recognizable theme for ‘The Simpsons’ and more recently Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’. Elfman, 71, is a regular collaborator with Tim Burton, who has scored most of his films, including 1989’s “Batman” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and has also worked with everyone from Noah Baumbach to Sam Raimi. His upcoming films include Warner Bros.’ “Bettlejuice Bettlejuice.” Furthermore, the composing industry is close-knit, male-dominated, and non-union. Mentorships are essential for young composers trying to gain a foothold.
But the relationship between mentor and mentee can be fraught with landmines. Abadi’s lawsuit alleges that Elfman often undressed in what was supposed to be a professional setting and “called nudity an important part of his creative process and emphasized that a nude environment did not mean a sexual environment.” The complaint continues: “On more than one occasion, Defendant Elfman has berated Nomi for her belief that nudity is inappropriate in a studio environment and emphasized that changing her conservative views on nudity would benefit her artistically.”
Elfman “also began regularly opening the door to his studio in his robe with the front of the robe open, exposing his genitals,” the suit alleges, and showed his acolyte a gallery of images on his laptop of Elfman naked with naked women. referring to them as his ‘special friends’. “Defendant Elfman was eager to prove to Nomi that other women had been ‘artistically’ and ‘non-sexually’ naked with him and strongly encouraged Nomi to do a similar photo shoot with him,” the complaint states. “Nomi told Mr. Elfman that she thought the photos were stylistically appealing, but that the idea made her uncomfortable. Defendant Elfman became furious with Nomi and reprimanded her again for her modesty.”
During a group trip to Paris, Elfman persuaded Abadi to participate in a photo shoot that he called artistic and non-sexual. But according to the complaint, he “suddenly grabbed his penis with one hand and grabbed Nomi by the wrist with his other hand, forcing her hand onto her genitals,” the complaint said. “Nomi was blinded and terrified. Defendant Elfman began to masturbate vigorously and ordered Nomi to do the same to herself. Nomi was terrified, frozen, and pretended to calm Defendant Elfman. Relieved that the moment was over in seconds, Nomi was stunned and shocked. Nomi remembers that defendant Elfman stared at her with wide eyes, as if surprised. Defendant Elfman then removed the memory card from Nomi’s camera and handed the empty camera back to Nomi, after which he saved the photos to his computer. Defendant Elfman instructed Nomi ‘not to tell anyone about Paris’ or she would be ‘dead meat’.”
During one of their last meetings in 2016, a political conversation turned into a shocking Elfman meltdown, the complaint alleges. When Abadi expressed her fear of presidential candidate Donald Trump and her support for candidate Bernie Sanders, Elfman responded: “We cannot let a Jew run our country,” the complaint said. (Elfman is Jewish.) “The hours-long argument ended with defendant Elfman yelling at Nomi and shaking his fist at her, red in the face,” the lawsuit continues. “Nomi, already aware of Defendant Elfman’s mood, was terrified but remained calm. Defendant Elfman raised his voice at Nomi and shouted, ‘Fuck you and fuck your entire generation,’ after which Nomi left his studio.”
In February 2023, Abadi spoke at a press conference before the Grammys, noting that although she is a member of the Recording Academy, she did not vote because there were “abusers” on the list of Grammy nominations. Elfman was nominated for a Grammy for Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Other women who spoke at the press conference denounced the use of NDAs, noting that they are used by powerful men to silence women in the music industry.
