For those who are unfamiliar with the name, Russell Simmons is one of the co-founders of Def Jam Recordings, which made him one of the most influential figures in hip-hop as well as the world of music as a whole. However, his entrepreneurship was not limited to the world of music, as shown by his other businesses. Unfortunately, Simmons is one of the figures who have been accused of sexual misconduct in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein case, which has now resulted in a lawsuit filed in a federal court.
The first accusation came in November of 2017 from a model who claimed that Simmons had sexually assaulted her in 1991 while entertainment businessman Brett Ratner watched on even when she asked him for help. Both Simmons and Ratner have acknowledged that there was an encounter, but both men have claimed that it was consensual in nature. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ratner is one of the figures who have been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women as well, which is why Warner Bros. chose to cut ties with him.
Regardless, that first accusation against Simmons was followed by a succession of others. In fact, both The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times published articles detailing the stories of women who accused Simmons of rape as well as other forms of sexual misconduct on the same day, which were not about the same group of women but rather separate groups of women. In total, eleven women have spoken out about Simmons so far, with six women claiming that they were either sexually assaulted or sexually harassed and five women claiming that they were raped. On top of these stories, Terry Crews accused Simmons of attempting to convince him to retract his accusation of sexual assault against an executive named Adam Venit, which actually resulted in Crews posting what he claimed to have been an email sent by Simmons on his Twitter account for the world to see.
As a result, it is no wonder that there have been significant impacts on Simmons’s career as a result of these stories. For example, Simmons has stepped down from not just Def Jam Records but also a number of the other businesses with which he is involved. Furthermore, HBO has removed his name from All Def Comedy, which was a series that he had created for the purpose of showcasing new comedic talent.
However, the news has now come out that one of the women who has accused Simmons of rape has filed a lawsuit, which is seeking a total of $5 million in damages. In short, the film-maker Jennifer Jarosik stated that she had gone to Simmons’s home in August of 2016 for the purpose of speaking with him about a documentary of hers that he had agreed to produce. There, he approached her about having sex with him. After which, he proceeded to rape her when she refused. Jarosik has stated that she didn’t contact the authorities at the time because she blamed herself for not having been able to fight him off, with the result that she wasn’t moved to speak up until other women started speaking up. As for Simmons, he has denied all of the accusations against him, but otherwise, he has been reluctant to say much in public and has specifically refused to speak about Jarosik’s lawsuit.
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