Russell Simmons Accusers Denounce Breakfast Club for New Interview
Drew Dixon and Sil Lai Abrams, both of whom previously accused Simmons of sexual assault, were shocked the former Def Jam head was given a major platform to refute their allegations.
By Christopher Rosen
Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Make A Wish.
Drew Dixon and Sil Lai Abrams, 2 of the 20 women who have come forward with sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Russell Simmons, condemned popular radio show The Breakfast Club for an interview with Simmons that aired Wednesday.
"This is a TOXIC mess," Dixon, who came forward in 2017 to claim that Simmons raped her in 1995, wrote on Twitter. Simmons, she added, "is a serial rapist, and many of his victims are Black women. Yet [host Charlamagne tha God] gives him a platform in the midst of a noble quest for Black liberation. We'll never get this foot off of our necks as Black people, if we don't love ourselves."
"I feel nauseous. Like, seriously sickened by this [Breakfast Club] interview and I didn't even listen to it," Abrams, who has alleged Simmons raped her in 1994, wrote on Twitter. "This is so damn traumatizing."
In a separate tweet, she wrote, "Stunts like what [The Breakfast Club] is pulling this morning by having Russell Simmons on to talk about social justice of all things is why it took over 25 years for R. Kelly to start to be held accountable for his serial predation of Black women and girls." (In March, Kelly pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges, including child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children; he is currently in federal custody without bail, despite seeking release over coronavirus fears.)
Simmons, who has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sexual encounters, appeared on The Breakfast Club with hosts DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne tha God, speaking from a home he has in Bali, Indonesia. Just shy of 13 minutes into the 63-minute interview, he was asked about the allegations and the HBO Max documentary On the Record, which details the stories of Dixon and Abrams, among others.
"You know, when I first heard about this documentary, I was thrilled to know that Oprah was involved," Simmons said, referencing Oprah Winfrey—who was an executive producer on the film before taking back her support (and the Apple TV+ platform that came with it) not long before it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year. "But let me back up because there's something I have to say that's much more important. I'm guilty of having underwritten, supported, made soundtracks for, taken advantage of, and lived in a grossly unjust society.... I know what I'm guilty of, and I've been unconscious as a playboy, and today the title appropriate is womanizer. So I'm guilty of that."
After claiming he dated numerous famous black actors, including Robin Givens and Stacey Dash, Simmons said, "I went out every night and I looked for new girls to date, and almost all of them are my friends today. In fact, everyone I mentioned, certainly all the ones that I'm referring to when I talk about supermodels from all over the world, these are friends today, and they never—they don't have the experience of me being the monster that the movie makes me to be."
Shortly before On the Record premiered, Winfrey removed her name from the film, citing "creative differences" with directors Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick over her wish to have its scope broadened by including more alleged victims and better contextualizing the culture of hip-hop in the 1990s. Before her decision, Simmons had reached out to Winfrey both in public and private, but the producer and talk show host maintained it was "ridiculous to think that I could be intimidated by Russell Simmons." (Said Dick about Winfrey in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, "She and her company were involved with the project for nearly a year. They were very close collaborators. They loved the project and the footage from the first time they saw it all the way through the picture log. They and Apple were the people that submitted the film to Sundance. They made an announcement prior to the Sundance announcement talking about how proud they were to be associated with the film. It was a very close working relationship. So we don't have any additional insight.")
Speaking on The Breakfast Club, Simmons said he was thrilled when Winfrey became involved because of her background as a journalist. "I said, it's absolutely no way she's gonna go forward when I present her with 30 witnesses or so who came forward after they saw their friends, and children, and parishioners on television," Simmons said. "So I felt very confident she'd walk away. She walked away, and she did say that the stories had inconsistencies."
Winfrey left the project on January 10. In a statement at the time, she said, "First and foremost, I want it to be known that I unequivocally believe and support the women. Their stories deserve to be told and heard. In my opinion, there is more work to be done on the film to illuminate the full scope of what the victims endured, and it has become clear that the filmmakers and I are not aligned in that creative vision. Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering are talented filmmakers. I have great respect for their mission, but given the filmmakers' desire to premiere the film at the Sundance Film Festival before I believe it is complete, I feel it's best to step aside. I will be working with Time's Up to support the victims and those impacted by abuse and sexual harassment." Winfrey did not mention any inconsistencies within the accusations.
Of On the Record, Simmons said he was "sorry" the movie had been released. But at the same time, "I'm glad they had their moment to say what they wanted to say. I could never say that someone doesn't feel victimized 30 years ago. These stories are 25 to 40 years old. I can't say someone doesn't feel victimized. I can tell you that I don't feel that I victimized them. And how can I say that? I took nine separate three-hour lie detector tests by two separate teachers. I just want to share that. They're available to you. I just wanted to say that, and I don't know what else to say except I feel terrible."
Simmons was one of a number of high-profile men accused of sexual misconduct during the initial stages of the #MeToo movement in 2017, including convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, former CBS boss Les Moonves (who has denied allegations of sexual misconduct), former NBC host Matt Lauer (who has denied allegations of sexual misconduct), and comedian Louis C.K., among many others. "I was the only man of color," Simmons claimed of the men accused during the early days of the #MeToo movement. "They spent a lot of money digging into my past. The New York Times, the L.A. Times, New York magazine, and others spent a fortune calling every person that I've known over the last 40 some-odd years. So I'm not suggesting they shouldn't, but did they do that for the famous rock stars? I hung out with Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler and many, many rock stars. The misunderstandings that I refer to and the insensitivity that I might have exuded at the time was kind of typical of the time. It was the perfect timing and the perfect storm. This is my experience."
Simmons's comments and the interview itself were denounced on social media. "Why? Would you have Harvey Weinstein on? Cause that's who Russell Simmons is," journalist Yashar Ali wrote on Twitter. "Turning your back on the women who have been brave enough to speak out..."
In a statement released after the interview, Time's Up said, "Immediately before an emotional conversation about police brutality against Black women on The Breakfast Club this morning, Russell Simmons peddled numerous myths about sexual assault, stereotypes about Black women, and distortions of facts in denying the multiple sexual assault allegations against him."
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Christopher Rosen is a contributing writer at Vanity Fair.
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