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Industry group backtracks on award for Nashville publicist accused of sexual harassment

Kirt Webster, honoree and CEO/president of Webster PR, speaks onstage during the National Association of Talent Directors honors gala Nov. 9, 2015, in Nashville. Webster on Wednesday stepped away from his company in the wake of allegations against him.

Public relations industry group PR News on Wednesday rescinded a "publicist of the year" award given to Nashville music publicist Kirt Webster, citing sexual harassment and abuse allegations that have emerged against him.

The group had named Webster as 2017 PR People Awards publicist of the year at a luncheon held at the National Press Club on Tuesday, saying "no other publicist this year excelled as a brand advocate and crafted more positive media coverage than Kirt Webster."

On Wednesday, after media reports of the award, PR News removed references to Webster from its website, adding a note that read:

"PR News has rescinded the 2017 Publicist of the Year award given to Kirt Webster amid just-released allegations against Webster of sexual abuse," a statement from the agency said.  "The PR News judges had no knowledge of these actions four months ago during the judging process."

It is unknown whether Webster accepted the award in-person. Calls to PR News went unreturned Wednesday.

More:More sexual harassment accusations emerge against former Dolly Parton publicist

More:Conflicting claims cloud future of Kirt Webster's music publicity firm

Webster has been accused of sexual harassment and abuse by at least 22 former clients, employees and interns who recounted incidents to the USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee.

Webster denied the initial allegations and said he would step down from his firm to focus on "combating the egregious and untrue allegations made against him." He has since ceased responding to messages seeking comment about additional allegations.

More:Abuse, harassment allegations from men complicate the Kirt Webster scandal

Before PR News rescinded its award, news of the honor stung former associates of the former public relations firm, which represented Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Kid Rock and other artists before closing as more people stepped forward to allege sexual misconduct. 

Former Webster associate Zach Farnum told the USA TODAY NETWORK news of the ward was "not only a slap in the face to all of the good, moral publicists in our profession, but also to the many victims like myself who suffered through his torment. I will not participate in or associate with this organization until they correct and apologize for this error."

Austin Rick, who was the first person to raise allegations against Webster, said timing of the judging was no excuse.

"This kind of thing makes me sick to my stomach," Rick said. "It serves to illustrate why it's so very important for victims of Webster's to continue speaking out about our traumas."

Allegations of abuse against Webster surfaced at the end of October when former client  Rick accused the publicist of drugging and assaulting him. Since then 21 other clients and employees have come forward to the USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee to allege wrongdoing.

Reach Cindy Watts at ciwatts@tennessean.com or on Twitter at @CindyNWatts. Reach Anita Wadhwani at awadhwani@tennessean.com, 615-259-8092 or on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.