Russell Simmons is in hot water yet again.
The media mogul has been accused of raping a former Def Jam executive in the 90s. The woman filed the suit under the moniker “Jane Doe” and is suing him for “obstructing the advancement of her career due to harassment,” according to reports. Doe said that she worked as a music executive and video producer at Def Jam in the 90s in her lawsuit.
Her suit also states, “Ms. Doe’s career in the music industry was disrupted and derailed by a devastating experience at the hands of Mr. Simmons.” Doe claims that her relationship with Simmons started professionally but would then turn violent.
“Mr. Simmons revealed his true colors and through his assaultive behavior, disabled Ms. Doe’s career at Def Jam, a job she loved, at the height of her success and financial viability,” the suit continues. The unidentified woman also says that Simmons invited her to his apartment to approve a music video and that he attempted to “wrestle” with her in what he thought was a playful manner. The exchange would become aggressive when he pinned her down on his bed.
“Ms. Doe repeatedly told Mr. Simmons to get off of her, but he refused,” according to the court document. “Mr. Simmons proceeded to rape her.” Since her alleged rape, Doe claims that she has experienced depression, panic attacks, and anxiety, which has cost her job at Def Jam.
Doe states that Simmons’ harassment continued and it got to the point where the senior executive told him to leave her office. “He would sit on her desk, lean over her, aggressively invading her personal space while making sexual innuendos, suggestions, and advances, and rubbing the front of his pants.”
Russell Simmons claims that for all of the women that have accused him of rape, he had consensual relationships with them. He has also denied all allegations of rape when he appeared on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
What are your thoughts on this?
Last night, the executive producer of the hit reality show “Love and Hip-Hop”, held an exclusive launch party at the Flatiron, located at 9 West 26th Street in Manhattan, for two projects that she has been working on, MonaMi Direct and the release of her debut novel ‘Blurred Lines’.MonaMi Direct is a publishing company that Young and her business partner Courtney Parker (who was stuck in L.A) started. Young explained how the idea for this company came about. “It started probably over a little over a year ago, and I wanted to do something in books but I definitely didn’t want to do it the traditional way”, she said. Young also explained that after finally settling with a publishing house, the person who was in charge of pushing the book forward had left the company. At that moment she and Parker were determined to take matters into their own hands by creating their own company, MonaMi Direct. Through this company, their debut novel ‘Blurred Lines’ was published.The event was filled with a lot of familiar faces and a few surprises. Cast members from “Love and Hip-Hop” New York came out to show their support for Young. Yandy, Tara, Cyn Santana, Mariah Lynn, Jacque, Jonathan, and Safaree were all in attendance to celebrate and congratulate Scott-Young on her success.
Brooklyn’s own rapper Maino and the owners of the Crabby Shack, located in Crown Heights, Gwendolyn Niles, and Fifi Bell Clanton were also in attendance to show their support.
Young had a few surprises for the guest in attendance. She shared a special reading of her novel and had Yandy, Safaree, Tara, Cyn, and producer of the show, Stephanie participate in it. During the sample reading, each participant had a role, while Young was the narrator. From that short snippet, the guests were introduced to Carys, her boyfriend Nikko, and their parents and grandparents, and was intrigued how fast the story took you through twists and turns, leaving you wanting more. After the reading, however, Young left us with a piece of advice in regards to the book, “Nothing is what it seems, so don’t go jumping to conclusions yet”.