Three of the women speaking out about their alleged experiences with Russell Simmons want to be clear when they claim: he raped them.
In an interview with CBS This Morning, Drew Dixon, Sil Lai Abrams, and Alexia Norton Jones opened up to network correspondent Michelle Miller about the hip-hop mogul; each woman alleged he forced himself on them without their consent.
Related: Russell Isn’t ‘Too Angry’ About Those Rape Allegations
Jones (above, insert) described his behavior as “penetral rape,” to which Dixon added:
“This is violently tackled and raped — while saying no and fighting and crying.”
Dixon went on to recall the alleged encounter with Simmons she says occurred 25 years ago. She shared:
“I literally worked for him. He was ordering me a car, and he told me to come upstairs and pick up a demo. I thought I would be in his apartment for five total minutes. That’s it… And he showed up naked, wearing a condom, and tackled me to his bed, while I screamed and fought and said, ‘No,’ and cried. That’s rape.”
Dixon was one of the first women to come forward with accusations against the Def Jam Recordings co-founder. In 2017, she told The New York Times she was working her “dream job” as an executive at Def Jam in 1995 but allegedly endured “prolonged and aggressive sexual harassment” by Simmons.
Related: Russell’s Rape Lawsuit ‘Dismissed With Prejudice’
Dixon claimed the mogul made sexual comments toward her, asked her to sit on his lap during a meeting, and frequently exposed his erect penis to her. She said this nasty alleged behavior reached a crescendo when he allegedly raped her in his NYC apartment; she claimed after Simmons pinned her to his bed, she blacked out despite not having alcohol before waking up naked in his hot tub.
Abrams, who casually dated Simmons in the early ‘90s, alleges he raped her in 1994 when she was too drunk to consent. Holding back tears, she said:
“He’ll say, ‘Yes, we had a sexual relationship,’ but he cannot address the fact that I was too drunk to consent, and that the next day I called him up, screaming. And I attempted suicide. He knew. And I told him why: That he had ruined my life, and that I had nothing.”
Jones also fought tears when she claimed that Simmons raped her on their first date in 1990, “right up against the f**king wall.” The two did not date again afterward, and the then 21-year-old felt she “had to keep this secret.” She recalled:
“This was a very swift attack, and what was going through my mind more than anything was, ‘Why?’ I liked Russell… I would’ve just kissed him. I would’ve made out with him. He didn’t have to attack me.”
Wow.
Watch a clip of the interview (below) to see how visibly triggered these women truly are.
First on @CBSThisMorning: We're hearing from women interviewed for a new documentary who claim music mogul Russell Simmons violently assaulted them.@CBSMMiller spoke to three of the women in the documentary.
Simmons has denied the allegations. https://t.co/nd8J02H4HJ pic.twitter.com/2TliAIFgG6
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 15, 2020
The music mogul issued a statement in response to the network’s new interview, in which he once again denied the “false accusations.” It read:
“I have issued countless detailed denials of the false accusations against me, including pages of sworn witness testimony including family members, clergy, journalists and mutual friends who were present at every stage. These denials have been validated by my passing nine prosecution-grade lie detector tests.”
The 62-year-old went on to say he has “admitted to being a massively unconscious ‘playboy’ which today is appropriately titled ‘womanizer,” adding:
“What I won’t do is engage in a shootout of attacks and counter-attacks. The social change from today’s activism is more important to the world my daughters will inherit than any dirt from false accusations from nearly 40 years ago.”
The three women were interviewed for a related yet-to-be-titled documentary highlighting the many allegations that have been levied against him.
Simmons made his feelings about the doc, which is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month, known on Instagram by sharing a photo of himself and Oprah Winfrey — who bowed out of her executive producer role on the project last week — and yet again denied the allegations.
He wrote:
“I am guilty of exploiting, supporting, and making the soundtrack for a grossly unequal society, but i have never been violent or forced myself on anyone. Still I am here to help support a necessary shift in power and consciousness. Let us get to work on uplifting humanity and put this moment and old narrative behind us.”
Um…
Thoughts?
-
Categories
