Lawsuit Filed Against Hurricane Dave, Urban One
• Last week we reported that “Hurricane Dave” Smith had exited as VP of Programming & Operations for Radio One Atlanta after nearly a decade with the cluster. Now comes word that Smith’s unscheduled departure may be directly linked to a sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed that same day, August 5, against Smith and Urban One by Feleg Abraham, a.k.a. Shorty Mack (pictured), a former air personality on Radio One Urban WHTA (Hot 107.9)/Atlanta.
The story was broken by Rodney Ho of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who reports that Ms. Abraham, who worked at Hot 107.9 from December 2016 until February 23, 2018, filed the lawsuit on August 5 in the state court of Fulton County, GA. The suit alleges, among other charges, that on May 22, 2017, Smith (pictured, below) trapped her in his office, groped her, exposed himself and demanded oral sex. She claims she suffered unspecified injuries when escaping his grasp. The suit states, “As a result of Defendant Smith’s actions, Ms. Abraham suffered from insomnia, anxiety, weight loss, extreme fear of being with men in isolated situations, self-doubt, self loathing and many other infirmities.” The suit further alleges that after this incident, Smith’s harassment “became more extreme, creating a hostile working environment.”
The lawsuit also states that Abraham learned that “Defendant Smith had a history of sexually harassing other Urban One female employees,” and those seeking employment there. Urban One knew or should have known of Defendant Smith’s sexually harassing behavior.” The suit also alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress by Smith, negligent infliction of emotional distress by Urban One, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, assault and battery and false imprisonment. Abraham finally resigned from Radio One on February 23, 2018 when she “realized nothing would change.” She now does middays on Davis Broadcasting Urban WFXE (Foxie 105)/Columbus, GA.
In response to the lawsuit, Karen Wishart, Urban One EVP & Chief Administrative Officer, issued a statement, which read, “The allegations made by Feleg Abraham against Dave Smith, both former employees of Urban One, are unsettling. As a company founded by an African-American woman with a long history of empowering women in the workplace, Urban One takes these allegations very seriously. After Ms. Abraham left Urban One to take a new job, we were notified of her complaint and conducted a thorough, independent investigation. In light of the ongoing litigation, we cannot provide further comment on this matter.”
For his part, Smith released his own statement that read, “This is an organized attempt by some former employees looking to capitalize on the #MeToo climate. I categorically deny these disgusting statements. I have no further comment.”
