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Alanis Morrisette is suing her former tour manager for what she calls a “calculated blackmail campaign” to frame her for drug trafficking unless the Canadian singer-songwriter agreed to sign her to a lengthy contract.
Morrisette filed a lawsuit in California on Tuesday, obtained by CBC News, alleging that Keren Urinov is threatening to report her to British authorities for drug trafficking unless Morissette agreed to employ her as a tour director for 15 years and pay her “massive compensation.”
Morrisette is suing Urinov for civil extortion, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, writing in the lawsuit that she “will not be coerced into delivering her blackmailer an extraordinary payday” and that she pursued legal action “to expose Urinov’s scheme and hold her accountable.”
What happened?
Urinov, who previously worked for Live Nation’s Israeli operations, was hired in 2025 as a temporary tour manager for Morrisette’s world tour.
In July 2025, the singer and her team, including Urinov, were allegedly flying from the U.K. to Spain for a concert.
At the airport, the lawsuit claims a British Border Force official flagged a bag, asking who owned it. When Urinov said it was hers, she was arrested and issued a seizure notice alleging that the bag contained marijuana and xylazine — a non-opioid animal tranquilizer.
During questioning, Urinov allegedly admitted that the bag and the drugs were hers, showing the authorities her Israeli medical marijuana licence, the lawsuit says. It was returned to her and she was released.
The next day, Urinov was allegedly detained again at an airport for questioning about the bag they’d taken the previous day.
‘A series of increasingly extortionate letters’
The suit claims Urinov told Morrisette that — again — she admitted the bag and the drugs belonged to her.
But after the tour wrapped, Urinov and her lawyers allegedly sent “a series of increasingly extortionate letters to Morissette,” threatening to sue her in the U.K. for “unspecified claims” if Morissette refused to tell British law enforcement that the drugs were hers.
According to the lawsuit, the letters said Morrisette could “put an end to the matter” by giving Urinov a fixed 15-year contract that included “income equivalent to that of a tour director with annual increases and bonuses.”
She also allegedly demanded Morrisette arrange for an immigration lawyer to get a work visa that would allow Urinov to work in the United States — and that if the visa couldn’t be obtained, she’d demand more pay.
‘Reluctant’ but ‘no choice but to sue’
The lawsuit also details reasons Morissette felt Urinov “was a terrible manager of the 2025 tour.”
This includes “unnecessarily” spending nearly $70,000 US after an “inexplicable error with a hotel booking that no competent tour manager would have made,” the court filing states.
Morissette also alleges that while on tour, Urinov told the singer’s team that she and a friend were arrested in Latin America “years ago” for smuggling drugs in a surfboard and that Urinov illegally fled the country after being released on bail.
“This was an astounding revelation, given that Urinov had told Morissette’s team during her interview for the tour manager position that nothing in her past would cause any complications with obtaining visas or travelling, and she never mentioned her arrest or crimes in Latin America,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also says Morissette was “reluctant” to file, but that she had “no choice but to sue.”
“Morissette will not agree to work with an incompetent blackmailer for the next 15 years or pay her a ransom under the gun,” it reads.
Morissette is seeking a trial by jury. CBC News has reached out to Urinov and representatives for Morissette but has not yet heard back.
