Country music publicist Kirt Webster accused of sexual harassment

Prominent Nashville publicist Kirt Webster, whose clients have included Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Billy Ray Cyrus Kid Rock and Kiefer Sutherland, abruptly stepped away from his firm Wednesday amid swirling accusations of sexual assault and harassment.

Days after former Webster client and onetime aspiring country singer Austin C. Rick accused the Music City executive of drugging and assaulting him, 10 former employees of Webster PR described to the USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee, a culture of consistent workplace abuse and harassment. The ex-employees requested anonymity for fear of personal and professional repercussions.

Metro Nashville police are looking into the allegations pertaining to Rick, said spokeswoman Kris Mumford.

Webster’s alleged behavior includes trading explicit photographs for passes to meet-and-greet sessions with Parton, unwanted touching and unleashing vulgar nicknames during company meetings.

“There was so much verbal and emotional abuse,” one female former employee said. “I witnessed some of the worst behavior you can imagine.”

In 2008, Rick performed country music under the stage name Austin Cody.

“(Webster) was my publicist. He was my radio promotion. He was my manager. He was going to be all hats for me,” Rick told The Tennessean. “Then he started just verbal flirting and things like that.” According to Rick, Webster’s behavior then became more aggressive and “completely terrifying.” He alleges Webster watched hardcore pornography in front of him and invited him to sit on his lap and watch it.

In a statement, Webster, who has spent more than two decades representing some of Nashville’s biggest stars, described his contact with Rick as consensual.

Webster is stepping away from his company to fight the “egregious and untrue allegations” from Rick, according to a different statement. A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about allegations of workplace sexual harassment.

After more than 20 years in Nashville, Webster became one of the most powerful publicists in town, with a roster of high-profile artists that includes multiple Country Music Hall of Fame members. Earlier this year, he accompanied several of his clients to Washington, D.C., as they performed at Donald Trump’s pre-inauguration concert. One week ago, Webster was ushering Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton down the red carpet before Rogers’ tribute concert at Bridgestone Arena.

Away from the spotlight, Webster created a hostile work environment, the former employees say. At least four of the ex-employees reported that Webster sometimes invited his male employees to his house after hours. When they said no, he got angry and refused to speak to them for days, the ex-employees said.

Webster reportedly controlled his employees by frequently threatening to fire them.

“We preferred he be in a bad mood because he left us alone,” one of the men reported. “When he was in a good mood is when we got harassed.”

All of the ex-employees said the harassment occurred regularly and that the company’s culture of intimidation kept them from speaking out about it.

The allegations come at a time when sexual harassment is at the forefront of the national conscience. Bombshell accusations of rape, assault and harassment by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted his own company to orchestrate his ouster and drove calls for law enforcement to investigate. Hundreds of women have accused director James Toback of inappropriate sexual conduct. Netflix indefinitely suspended production of its popular series “House of Cards” amid reports lead actor Kevin Spacey engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with another actor who was a minor at the time of the alleged encounter.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported six women accused prominent Hollywood director Brett Ratner of sexual misconduct, including non-consensual sexual encounters. All of those accused have either denied or downplayed the accusations.

The former Webster employees noted some of these prominent national cases as a reason they chose to come forward now.

A spokeswoman said a statement from Webster PR early Wednesday announcing the closure of the firm was inaccurate. Instead, the company is rebranding as Westby PR, named after Jeremy Westby, who mostly recently served as the senior vice president of Webster PR.

Read the full story here.

Reporting: Cindy Watts, Dave Boucher, Anita Wadhwani, Juli Thanki and Dave Paulson, USA TODAY NETWORK