Former Life or Death PR Staffers Form New Company, Discuss Heathcliff Berru's Exit

Last week, Life or Death PR & Management went out of business following a storm of allegations of sexual misconduct against the company's founder, Heathcliff Berru. (Life or Death's former clients included Odd Future, D'Angelo, Killer Mike, DIIV, Kelela, and more.)

Life or Death's former employees have now announced that they are starting a new public relations company called Liberal Arts. Nick Dierl and Duncan Will spoke to Billboard about the new company and their relationship with Berru. 

Dierl and Will said that while they knew about Berru's abuse of drugs and alcohol, they never witnessed any nonconsensual behavior toward women (though they were aware Berru engaged in extramarital affairs). "No one has ever said anything to us before Amber [Coffman] came out, but I believe her and applaud her in doing so," Will said. "That’s the point we became aware of it, and that’s when friends came to us and said, 'Hey, there was actually this thing with me, and I never said anything about it.' Those stories—from people I interact with a lot in the industry—were horrifying to hear. I was really shocked."

Chelsea Wolfe, a former Life or Death client, said Berru attempted to kiss her during a meeting. Sky Ferreira, another former Life or Death client, remarked "about time someone said something" as the allegations were emerging. In the interview, Berru and Will said they weren't aware of Berru's behavior toward their clients. "We didn’t know that Heathcliff’s actions were losing us business, especially clients I really cared about," Will said. They also revealed he sent "unprofessional texts" to a female employee at Life or Death.

At least two of Life or Death's clients at the time of their dissolution—Killer Mike and Wet—will be represented by Liberal Arts. Will and Dierl said that Berru was mostly uninvolved in Life or Death's day-to-day business, and that most of their clients had relationships with the employees.

Liberal Arts is backed by a subsidiary of Knitting Factory Entertainment, who previously backed Life or Death. Aside from Dierl and Will, the company will employ Bradley Bledsoe, Emily Mullen, and Linda Valenziano—all of whom worked at Life or Death.

In a statement to Billboard, Ian Wheeler, the president of Knitting Factory Records said: "Mr. Berru is no longer a party to our organization and will not take part in our new venture, nor own an equity position. All ties have been cut." 

Disclosure: Berru was a Pitchfork intern in 2005. Pitchfork was in frequent communication with Life or Death PR about coverage of the artists they represent.

via Jeremy Gordon