Grammys Head Deborah Dugan Removed 10 Days Before Ceremony

In the latest tumultuous twist for the Recording Academy, the embattled organization behind the Grammy Awards, the institution’s brand-new chief executive, Deborah Dugan, was removed from her position on Thursday, just 10 days before this year’s ceremony.

In a statement late Thursday, the academy said that Ms. Dugan, who joined the organization in August, had been placed on administrative leave “in light of concerns raised to the Recording Academy Board of Trustees, including a formal allegation of misconduct by a senior female member of the Recording Academy team.” The board, it said, had retained two independent investigators to look into the matter.

“The board determined this action to be necessary in order to restore the confidence of the Recording Academy’s membership, repair Recording Academy employee morale, and allow the Recording Academy to focus on its mission of serving all music creators,” the organization said. Harvey Mason Jr., the chairman, will serve as interim chief executive during the investigation. The news of Ms. Dugan’s removal was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Ms. Dugan, the academy’s first female chief executive, is a former lawyer and record executive who had been the chief of Red, the nonprofit group co-founded by Bono of U2 that works to combat AIDS and other diseases in Africa.

She joined the Recording Academy after a pummeling year in which it had come under attack over its representation of women and a remark by her predecessor, Neil Portnow, who said after the 2018 show that women in the music industry should “step up” to advance their careers.