Russell Simmons Sues HBO For $20M Over Sexual Assault Documentary

He once had several successful shows on HBO. Now, rap mogul Russell Simmons is suing the network for its depiction of him in a documentary.

Per a report in Variety, the founder of Def Jam has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 20 women. He is suing HBO over the documentary On the Record, which was released on the network in 2020.

In the doc, Simmons is portrayed as a serial abuser. Once the #MeToo movement gained momentum, several women came forward to say that they had been sexually assaulted, including Drew Dixon, a music industry executive in the ’90s, who is the daughter of former Washington, D.C. mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. Dixon alleges that while working for Simmons at Def Jam, he raped her in his apartment after enticing her there to listen to an artist demo on the way to an event. Dixon went on to work with L.A. Reid at Arista Records, who she said also targeted her when she refused his advances.

Simmons has denied all the allegations against him. The documentary was controversial before it even aired on HBO. Oprah Winfrey, one of the doc’s co-producers withdrew her support at the last minute, according to directors Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick. The duo is known for its takes on challenging topics, but after Winfrey had Ava DuVernay watch it, she says DuVernay issued a “hard critique” that gave her pause. The directors are white, and the film focuses on multiple accounts of abuse experienced by Black women. Winfrey said Dixon’s account had “inconsistencies” that she’s never publicly shared and pulled her support from the project. Due to her objections, AppleTV+ passed on distributing the film.

“In my opinion, there is more work to be done on the film to illuminate the full scope of what the victims endured, and it has become clear that the filmmakers and I are not aligned in that creative vision,” Winfrey said at the time.

Simmons’ lawyers argue that the production overlooked numerous documents that would have proven his innocence.

“Despite voluminous support for Mr. Simmons in the form of credible information, persuasive evidence, witness statements, and calls for further investigation by notable members of the media, politics, and the civil rights movement, the defendants simply disregarded it, and released, and continue to re-release globally, a film that tremendously disparaged and damaged Mr. Simmons with salacious and defamatory accusations that he vehemently denies,” ” his lawyers said in legal documents according to Variety.

Although the statute of limitations on defamation expires a year after anything defamatory is aired or published, it is believed that Simmons’ legal team will argue that, because HBO, now HBO Max, has made the film available in international markets, it can still be sued. Aside from the $20 million payout, the suit asks that On the Record be removed from all platforms.

HBO Max’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, issued a statement that said, “We dispute Mr. Simmons’ allegations, stand by the filmmakers and their process, and will vigorously defend ourselves against these unfounded allegations.”