Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers want to use intimate emails from his accusers to try to convince jurors in his rape trial that any contact was consensual, the defense said Tuesday as an appeals court rejected an 11th-hour request to move the trial out of town.

Opening statements are set for today, Wednesday, in one of the most prominent cases of the #MeToo era, involving a once-celebrated movie producer now vilified as a predator by scores of women, including some well-known actresses who plan to testify or attend the trial.

Meanwhile, the ousted Grammys CEO fired back at the Recording Academy on Tuesday, alleging that she was removed after complaining about sexual harassment and pay disparities and for calling out conflicts of interest in the nomination process for music’s most prestigious awards.

Lawyers for Deborah Dugan, who was placed on administrative leave last week after six months in the job, filed the discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission just five days before the Grammy Awards. She alleged she was sexually harassed by the academy’s general counsel, Joel Katz, who late Tuesday denied her account.

We check in on both stories. 

With files from the Associated Press. 

Guests:

Jem Aswad, senior music editor for Variety; he tweets

Angela Reddock-Wright,  an employment attorney, mediator and workplace investigator. She is Managing Attorney of Los Angeles-based Reddock Law Group

Ambrosio Rodriguez, former prosecutor; he is currently a criminal defense attorney at The Rodriguez Law Group in Los Angeles; he led the sex crimes team in the Riverside D.A.’s office