An unnamed woman has accused rock star and composer Danny Elfman of sexual abuse in a new lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter, names Elfman and his company Musica de la Muerta as defendants on charges of sexual assault, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment and negligence.
In the lawsuit, the woman, who goes by the name Jane Doe XX, claims that she first met Elfman in 1997 when she was a 21-year-old student at the New York Film Academy. Elfman, who was 47 at the time, was well known as the frontman for the ’80s new wave band Oingo Boingo and from his work on multiple Tim Burton films such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as well as TV shows such as “The Simpsons.
The woman claims Elfman invited her to industry events as a “consultant and protegé.” But when the two were alone together, Elfman would regularly walk around nude in front of the woman, telling her this was the “only way he could work, be creative, and successful.”
The lawsuit says that the plaintiff felt she had “no choice but to always comply with his requests, and Plaintiff felt this was a condition of their continued relationship.”
A year after they met, Elfman invited the plaintiff to stay in his Topanga home while she searched for a nearby apartment, and said that she sometimes slept in the same bed as Elfman, fully clothed and on top of the sheets while he slept nude next to her. This continued until 2002, when the plaintiff said she ended her relationship with Elfman after the composer allegedly told her, ““Every time you have ever slept next to me, I would masturbate next to you.”
This account is similar that of a 2018 lawsuit filed by composer Nomi Abadi and first reported by Rolling Stone in which she accused Elfman of exposing himself and masturbating in front of her without her consent. Elfman and Abadi reached a settlement and nondisclosure agreement on the lawsuit, though Abadi sued Elfman this past July for failing to make a payment on the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for Elfman denied the claims in a statement: “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.”
