Why Not Her? Collective stands in solidarity with Former music manager and executive Jan Roeg and Dorothy Carvello who are suing Atlantic Records, legendary music producer Ahmet Ertegun, and his estate, alleging sexual abuse that they were subjected to during their time working with Ahmet.
Speaking on the matter, Linda Coogan Byrne, of Why Not Her? said:
“We stand in solidarity and offer our support and resources to Dorothy Carvello and Jan Roeg and their respective teams in their pursuit to seek justice and culture change within the music industry.
We have also had so many survivors come to us and tell us their stories of sexual harassment and abuse but it ends there as 99.9% of them are too afraid to speak up for fear of the backlash and being blacklisted as a form of retribution.
We need to create a safe space and environment in which women feel they can come forward and speak openly without fear.
Dorothy as well as Jan, are acting as powerful conduits for this to happen, we fully support them in this journey and hope that it inspires other women to come forward”
Carvello and Roeg decided to sue when Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Adult Survivors Act last May, which allows adult survivors to sue their abusers regardless of when the abuse took place.
57 cases, covering 85 plaintiffs, have been filed with courts since the window opened in November 2022.
As of December 2022, Carvello assembled an impressive legal team and filed her case against Atlantic, Warner Music Group, Ertegun’s estate, Morris, and Flom. A lawyer acquaintance in California, Anne Andrews, initiated the process.
The renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represented the family of George Floyd, also came on board. Brown Rudnick, a global firm, also signed up and Camille Vasquez was put on the team with Dorothy too.
Speaking to The Times this week Carvello commented:
“There was no #MeToo moment in the music industry; there’s been no internal clean-up. I’ve heard from many women, but none of them want to come forward. Many of them are under nondisclosure agreements [NDAs]”.
It’s time for the #MeToo Movement to happen in the music industry.
A friend and feminist ally of Why Not Her? Dorothy has appeared across National and International Media platforms (including the below). And is ongoing in speaking with the press and media.