Jimmie Allen dropped from CMA Fest lineup amid lawsuit
The country musician is being accused of sexual abuse by his former manager.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Country Music Association wasted no time in removing a famous artist from the main stage at this year’s CMA Fest after troubling allegations surfaced on Thursday.
A lawsuit was filed on Thursday against country musician Jimmie Allen, claiming he sexually assaulted his former day-to-day manager for more than two years and the management company, Wide Open Music, knew about the abuse and continually worked to cover it up and dismissed it as “harmless behavior.”
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The lawsuit states that at one point, the manager even requested her company assign her to a different artist, but was denied and forced to work with him anyway. It also claims the former manager was warned that Allen “could be challenging by pushing inappropriate boundaries,” and described him as “promiscuous but ‘harmless.’”
The fallout for Allen was swift, as he was dropped within hours from this year’s CMA Fest in Nashville. When the artists were first announced in March, Allen was slated to perform on Nissan Stadium’s main stage, along with Jason Aldean, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, and Tim McGraw.
Allen is noticeably absent from the main stage lineup on the CMA Fest website, and the CMA confirmed the decision on Friday morning:
Allen’s record management team, BBR Music Group also wasted no time in cutting ties with the singer. They issued a statement on May 11:
In response to the allegations, Allen released a statement on Thursday:
This year’s CMA Fest is June 8-11 in Nashville.
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