The New York Times just dropped a bombshell on hip hop mogul Russel Simmons – it says that four women are accusing him of sexual harassment, three say that he raped them.
In recent interviews, four women spoke on the record about a pattern of violent sexual behavior by Mr. Simmons, disclosing incidents from 1988 to 2014. Three of the women say that he raped them.
In each case, numerous friends and associates said they were told of the incidents at the time. The women said they were inspired to come forward in the aftermath of the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, as victims’ stories have been newly elevated and more often believed.
Simmons is denying the allegations:
Told in detail about the rape accusations and other misconduct, Mr. Simmons, 60, said in a statement: “I vehemently deny all these allegations. These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.”
More:
Three of the women now accusing Mr. Simmons were pursuing careers in the music industry that they said were disrupted or derailed in part by their experiences with him.
“I didn’t sing for almost a year,” said Tina Baker, a performer who said Mr. Simmons raped her in the early ’90s, when he was her manager. “The second he agreed to work with me, my budget increased, the label was paying more attention to me,” Ms. Baker recalled. But after the assault, she said, “I went into oblivion.”
The NYT goes into much more detail, which you can wade into if you go to their story, but it suffices to say that Simmons is in deep trouble, especially because some of the allegations are very recent – well within the statute of limitations.
For those who need more “whataboutism” fuel, here’s Simmons saying Trump is a white supremacist:
Ironically, he said before that he used to hang out with him all the time – I guess it didn’t bother him that he was a “white supremacist” before? Weird…