Danny Elfman calls newest sexual assault claim 'dishonest'

Danny Elfman calls newest sexual assault claims a ‘disinformation campaign’

Danny Elfman smiles slyly while clad in a black suit with his red hair in a bob

Nov. 7, 2023 Updated 6:44 PM PT

Danny Elfman spoke out against an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman from 1997 to 2002, weeks after the alleged victim filed a lawsuit against the prolific composer.

In his answer, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday and reviewed by The Times, Elfman said he “made no inappropriate advances and never inappropriately touched his accuser.” The answer also said that the composer’s alleged victim filed the lawsuit “for the improper purpose of embarrassing Mr. Elfman and extorting settlement money.”

Elfman’s answer continued: “Recognizing that her absurd allegations would carry no weight in a court of law, Plaintiff and her attorneys chose to embark on a disinformation campaign, providing her dishonest Complaint to the media days before it was filed with the Court or became publicly available on the Court’s docket.”

Legal representatives for Elfman’s accuser did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Tuesday.

According to the October lawsuit, the accuser — identified only as Jane Doe XX — met Elfman when she was a film student. At the center of the lawsuit are claims that Elfman exposed his genitals to the accuser and masturbated in front of her while she slept.

For the record:

6:42 p.m. Nov. 7, 2023An earlier version of this article referred to Jane Doe XX as having been an aspiring composer. She was a film student, according to court documents.

Doe XX’s lawsuit accuses the composer of using “his clear power as a successful public figure in the film and music industry, as a form of control.” Elfman’s company, Musica de la Muerte, was also named as a defendant in the complaint, which demanded a jury trial.

Elfman, who previously denied the allegations in October, allegedly met Doe XX when she was a 21-year-old student at the New York Film Academy. At the time, he was 47, led the new wave band Oingo Boingo and had already scored Burton films “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

According to the complaint, Doe XX and Elfman’s relationship grew and the composer treated her as a “consultant and protégé,” a claim that an Elfman spokesperson denied. The composer would also bring Doe XX out to Hollywood outings, which she would later view as instances of “grooming” and emotional manipulation in order to “sexually abuse and exploit” her, the suit said.

The lawsuit details several encounters where Elfman allegedly stripped naked in Doe XX’s presence and asked his accuser to do the same. The composer also allegedly asked Doe XX to watch him bathe.

Doe XX’s complaint also claims that Elfman revealed to his accuser, “Every time you have ever slept next to me, I would masturbate next to you.” He allegedly explained that, as part of his fetish, Doe XX had to be asleep; Doe XX said in the complaint that she did not consent to this act. According to the lawsuit, Doe XX ended her relationship with Elfman after that revelation.

The complaint added that Doe XX filed her lawsuit after Rolling Stone published an exposé about Elfman in July 2023. The report centered on musician Nomi Abadi’s accusations against Elfman. She claimed he assaulted her between 2015 and 2016.

Those allegations surfaced after Abadi sued Elfman in July, accusing him of not paying out a full settlement as part of a nondisclosure agreement between them. According to Doe XX’s lawsuit, “[S]imilarities of Abadi’s account mirrored Plaintiff’s own experiences but happened years apart.”

An Elfman spokesperson said in an October statement, after the lawsuit was filed: “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.”

Times staff writers Jonah Valdez and Emily St. Martin contributed to this report.