I said ‘No,’” she was quoted as saying. Simmons also started to expand his footprint outside of music by founding the Simmons Lathan Media Group in 1989, which would go on to create several successful TV series. It’s just a statement about my innocence.”. Khalighi said the film producer and director Brett Ratner, who has also been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment, was present. I have already admitted to being a playboy more (appropriately titled today “womanizer”) sleeping with and putting myself in more compromising situations than almost any man I know. “The current allegations sent to me by the New York Times range from the patently untrue to the frivolous and hurtful. 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We want to hear from you! 1988: Def Jam reaches new creative heights. Read Next: Weinstein Carnegie Philanthropic Group Fetes a Decade of Doing Good in the World, Trump to Hold Sinclair Town Hall Moderated by Fox News Alum Eric Bolling, Lindsey Graham and Thom Tillis Get Boost From Entertainment Companies, Thomas Jefferson Byrd’s Murder Suspect Arrested, Brian Wilson Disavows Trump’s Beach Boys Benefit in California (EXCLUSIVE), Beastie Boys License a Song for an Ad for First Time Ever, for Joe Biden Spot Focused on Live Music Shutdown, ‘Avengers’ Cast Assembles for Joe Biden Fundraiser, Kanye West Responds to Issa Rae’s ‘SNL’ Joke: ‘I’m Praying for Her and Her Family’, ‘In the Heights’ Actor Doreen Montalvo Dies at 56, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Recreates Presidential Town Halls with Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Sketch Sees Issa Rae Voting for ‘Everybody Black’ — But ‘F’ Kanye West. A third woman, named Toni Sallie, said she dated Simmons briefly in 1987. 2017: Simmons steps down from his businesses. I am blessed to have shared extraordinary relationships, whether through work or love, with many great women; and I have enormous respect for the women’s movement worldwide and their struggle for respect, dignity, equality and power. So many that some could reinterpret or reimagine a different recollection of the same experiences. He would publish two more self-help books in 2015, one on living as a vegan and another on the value of meditation. READ MORE: Rotten Apples: Online movie database lets you screen cast and crew for sexual allegations. Simmons said the sex with Khalighi was consensual. I am blessed to have shared extraordinary relationships, whether through work or love, with many great women and I have enormous respect for the women’s movement worldwide and their struggle for respect, dignity, equality and power. She said that when she arrived, she was the only person there and Simmons led her to his bedroom, pushed her on the bed and raped her. 2016: Simmons opens Tantris.Simmons transformed his interest in yoga into another business venture by opening Tantris, an 8,000 square-foot, L.A.-based “wellness center” with an accompanying athleisure line. In which of the following was Russell Simmons NOT engaged in the early 1980s? It’s true! 1994-1995: Simmons allegedly sexually harasses and rapes Drew Dixon.Simmons hired Drew Dixon as an A&R in 1994, and the following year she was tasked with putting together the soundtrack for The Show, a new hip-hop documentary. This is why it’s so troubling that you choose me to single out in your recent documentry. “I went [to my first class] because there were a lot of hot girls and no guys, except for gay guys who didn’t want the girls,” Simmons told The New York Times in 2016. These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual. The allegations brought forth by The Times weren’t the first to hit the producer recently. The film was helmed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, who previously directed the documentary The Hunting Ground about sexual assaults on college campus. © Copyright 2020 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. The Simmons documentary focuses on the allegations against the Def Jam CEO by the label’s onetime A&R Drew Dixon as well as other women who accused Simmons of sexually assaulting them. Khalighi said she asked Ratner, then a music video director and Simmons protege, for help. She later used the alleged incident as the basis for a rape scene in her 2008 novel Mercedes Ladies. Accordingly, he sold his stake in Def Jam, along with his partners, to Seagram for around $100 million in 1999. In which of the following was Russell Simmons NOT engaged in the early 1980s? 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Oprah Winfrey has dropped out as an executive producer on a documentary that delves into sexual misconduct allegations against Russell Simmons — but not … Although I have been candid about how I have lived in books and interviews detailing my flaws, I will relentlessly fight against any untruthful character assassination that paints me as a man of violence. 1994: Simmons’ label parts ways with Sony Music.Despite Def Jam’s cultural clout and the work it had done to push hip-hop into the mainstream, Simmons’ label was facing financial trouble. “These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.”. She said he raped her. Simmons said he had a different memory of the night but apologized and said he was stepping away from his companies. “He pushed me on the bed and jumped on top of me, and physically attacked me,” she told the Times. Lumet said Simmons had sex with her more than two decades ago despite her repeated demands that he stop. If we were seeking money, we got out at the right time. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Williams-Blach, then a freshman at UCLA, said that to escape the situation, she informed Simmons she had to attend a study hall. I have refused to get in the mud with any accusers, but let’s acknowledge what i have shared. READ MORE: TIME names ‘The Silence Breakers,’ voices behind #MeToo movement, as its Person of the Year. “We were fighting. In which of the following was Russell Simmons NOT engaged in the early 1980s? “We were fighting. What was the name given to Dr. Dre's musical style on The Chronic? 1999: Simmons and his partners sell off their stake in Def Jam for $100 million. Simmons denied the allegations in a statement provided to Variety. 2005: Simmons allegedly exposes himself to massage therapist Erin Beattie.Simmons booked Beattie for a massage while staying at the Alexis Hotel in Seattle, The Los Angeles Times reports. “I build shit and then when everybody’s smarter than me, I get out the way,” Simmons told DJ Vlad in 2016. In all three cases, the paper said, friends and associates of the accusers said they had been told about the incidents at the time. True/False: DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince was originally a trio. ‘Lovecraft Country’ Finale Recap: Spells and Prayers and Potions, Oh My! True/False: Ice Cube didn't write any of the material for N.W.A. True/False: Vanilla Ice's biography of a poor, rough childhood was fabricated to give him the appearance of "authenticity.". This was a banner year for the label, which released a pair of hip-hop classics: Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and Slick Rick’s The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. Lumet said she went public after model Keri Claussen Khalighi said Simmons coerced her to perform a sex act and later penetrated her without her consent in his New York apartment in 1991. Simmons led her to the bedroom. This song won the first Grammy for rap performance: "Parents Just Don't Understand" - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Want more Rolling Stone? “It was like making a record while swimming in rough seas.” She also alleged that Simmons overpowered her and raped her at his apartment in 1995. She, too, was invited to Simmons apartment in the early 1990s. I denied forced sex and sexual harassment allegations brought against me in each test; I also answered no to the question, “Have you ever physically forced any woman to have sexual intercourse?” I passed all of the lie detector tests. True/False: A category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a specific style, form, or content is called genre. She also alleged that she met Simmons again about a year later at a hotel in Florida, and that he grabbed her hair and chased her into the bathroom. Variety had earlier reported that Simmons and Brett Ratner were both investigated by the Beverly Hills Police Department for an alleged sexual battery in 2001. WATCH: More women come forward alleging rape against rap mogul Russell Simmons. (Read his full statement below.). © Copyright 2020 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. True/False: Criminal minded was one of the first hip hop albums to feature visual images of firearms on the cover. “Kirby and I are so proud to be teaming with HBO Max to give this film the outstanding platform it deserves and can’t wait for the public to see and hear the voices of these courageous women,” Ziering said in a statement. The presumption of innocent until proven guilty must not be replaced by “Guilty by Accusation”. “I’ll never forget the look on his face,” she told the Times. 2018: Oprah removes Simmons’ quotes from her advice book.Simmons was one of several contributors to Oprah Winfrey’s 2017 book The Wisdom of Sundays. “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. 'Bounce music' is associated with which city? Your doc is focused on 3 hand chosen women. READ MORE: Mario Batali, celebrity chef and ‘The Chew’ co-host, takes leave amid sexual harassment allegations. “In that moment, the realization fell on me that they were in it together.”. Dixon also described experiences in which Simmons exposed himself. © Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. I cannot be silenced by a Russell Simmons after all I've been through." Also Read: Oprah Says Her Exit From #MeToo Doc Is Not a 'Victory Lap' for Russell Simmons (Video) “What transpired with Oprah, it’s her prerogative to make her choice. I have submitted myself to multiple lie detector tests. In This Article: “I felt embarrassed, I felt used, worthless,” Hines told Megyn Kelly.