In a $20,000,000.00 law suit against the filmmakers and distributors of On the Record, Music mogul Russell Simmons is claiming defamation.
Claiming that together they defamed him and ignored his version of events. the now 67-year old music mogul is suing HBO and the makers of the 2020 documentary that detailed allegations against him of sexual abuse.
Following extensive coverage of numerous allegations against Simmons, by the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times and other publications, On the Record featured the testimony of several women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Simmons in the 1980s and ’90s, when he was at the height of his influence as the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, the hip-hop label behind LL Cool J, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and more.
According to a summons filed in the Manhattan court, the New York-born defendant alleges the filmmakers disregarded and/or suppressed information provided by his representatives,
Simmons is one of several high-profile music figures, including fellow producer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and R&B singer Chris Brown, to face multiple lawsuits for sexual misconduct, and he was most recently sued in February 2024 by an anonymous former executive at Def Jam Recording, for an alleged rape in the 1990s.
According to Deadline, HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, dismissed the lawsuit’s allegations as “unfounded.”
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: David Shankbone