Russell Simmons Writes Open Letter To Oprah Amidst Reported Accuser's Documentary
As reported by rollingstonemagazine.com, allegations of either sexual misconduct or sexual assault by music mogul Russell Simmons has been floating around since 2017. Simmons has responded by admitting “inappropriate conduct” in some instances, “apologizing] for the instances of thoughtlessness in my relationships with women,” stepping away from his business interests and converting his “studio for yogic science into a not-for-profit center of learning and healing.” But at the same time, he has disputed the allegations of non-consensual sexual interactions. “I vehemently deny all these allegations,” he told The New York Times after the paper published the accounts of four women, three of whom alleged that they were raped by Simmons. “These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.” Simmons also denied all the allegations against him to Rolling Stone.
Most recently, Russell has been made aware of a reported documentary coming out about one of his accuser's, Drew Dixon, a former music executive who accused Simmons of raping her in 1995. The untitled documentary is set to premiere in 2020 at Sundance. What Russell finds so "troubling" he says the open letter he wrote on his Instagram, is that the documentary is being executive produced by Oprah Winfrey. Take a look at his open letter to Oprah below:
Other entertainers are in an uproar about this documentary, including Power creator, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.
We're going to have to agree with 50 cent here. We just want to know why her documentaries are targeting our black men. First, Michael Jackson, then Gayle King (Oprah's bff) did the R. Kelly special, and now Russell Simmons. Why not do documentaries on Kevin Spacey or Harvey Weinstein?
On cnn.com, Oprah says, "What I knew about Harvey was that Harvey was a bully and that if Harvey's on the phone, you go 'God, you don't want to take the call,' because you're going to get bullied in some way," Winfrey said in an episode of Paltrow's newly launched podcast.What that meant for Winfrey, she recalled, was that Weinstein pressured her to have certain guests on her long-running talk show.Winfrey reiterated that she had no knowledge of Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct prior to reports by the New York Times and The New Yorker last fall.
Maybe she's a little afraid of the powers that be when it all comes down to it and doesn't want to be on "their" bad side?
