Alanis Morissette sues her former tour manager over an alleged blackmail scheme

Alanis Morissette has sued her former tour manager, alleging a blackmail campaign built around drug charges that were never hers. "Alanis Morissette is the victim of a calculated blackmail campaign orchestrated by a disgruntled former tour manager," the complaint reads.

The six-page filing was made on Tuesday, September 1 in Los Angeles federal court, and brings claims of civil extortion, fraud and negligent misrepresentation against Keren Urinov, who ran Morissette's 2025 European tour.

It starts at an airport. According to the complaint, Urinov was flagged for inspection and detained at a UK airport in 2025 while travelling with Morissette and her team to a show in Spain. British authorities issued a seizure notice saying her bag contained marijuana and xylazine, an animal tranquilliser that is also used illicitly. Urinov told border officers the bag and its contents were hers, showed an Israeli medical marijuana licence and was released. She was detained again on arrival in Spain and, the filing says, gave the same account.

During that tour, the complaint alleges, Urinov told Morissette she had been arrested once before in Latin America for smuggling drugs inside a surfboard and had fled the authorities. The suit says that came as a shock, because Urinov had said before she was hired that nothing in her past would complicate touring.

After the tour ended, the filing alleges, Urinov and her lawyer began sending what it calls "increasingly extortionate" letters, threatening litigation and making clear they would tell UK police the drugs belonged to Morissette. The demand attached to that was a 15-year full-time employment contract with significant pay, annual raises and bonuses, plus an immigration lawyer hired to secure Urinov permission to work in the United States.

"Morissette will not agree to work with an incompetent blackmailer for the next 15 years," the complaint says, and it makes the competence point separately, claiming a hotel booking mistake by Urinov cost the production $70,000.

Morissette is seeking more than $75,000 in compensatory damages, punitive damages and a jury trial. Law360 reported that Urinov is a former executive of Live Nation's Israeli unit and has sued Morissette in a British court, though the allegations there are not clear. Attempts to reach her were unsuccessful.

Her touring year continues regardless. She plays Riot Fest in Chicago on September 18, where side shows have been added around the city, then four nights at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles in November; last weekend she duetted on "Ironic" with Olivia Rodrigo at the Daisy Chain Fields festival. Disputes between artists and former staff have been a running thread this year, including Megan Thee Stallion being ordered to trial in a former photographer's case. More rock news is on the genre hub.