Business News Industry People Legal

Russell Simmons faces new accusation of rape

By | Published on Wednesday 11 July 2018

Russell Simmons

Another woman has spoken about being allegedly raped by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons. In a piece for Variety, Alexia Norton Jones says she forgave Simmons for the alleged attack, which occurred in 1990, but nevertheless recently reported it to New York police in the wake of other allegations of sexual misconduct made against the Def Jam co-founder.

A number of women accused Simmons of past incidents of sexual assault as the #MeToo movement gained momentum last year. Two of his accusers subsequently went legal, although one of those lawsuits was then dismissed at the request of both parties. For his part, Simmons has strongly denied all the allegations made against him.

Jones knew Simmons from the mid-1980s, but says the alleged attack occurred in 1990 when he invited her to see his new apartment in Manhattan. While in the property she says he pinned her against a wall and raped her.

She goes on: “It was such a fast attack. It was literally an attack. Because he was overweight, I remember thinking it was like being attacked by a flabby walrus. I remember being pushed up against a wall. He pulled my dress up. I must have said no seven to ten times, and then I acquiesced. It was very fast. I would say it happened in less than ten minutes”.

Jones says she ultimately forgave Simmons for the attack and would have never spoken about it again but for the flurry of allegations that surfaced last year and his response to them.

She states: “I would have kept quiet forever. What made me come forward is his denials of violence toward other women. I don’t want any money from Russell. I’m not suing him. If you look at the women he allegedly assaulted, many of us have a similar look. It’s uncanny. Russell knew that the African-American community was behind him. There are so few black men who make it, we wanted him to succeed. Yet there was also this huge betrayal. He counted on this silence”.

Simmons has responded to these new allegations, again denying any wrong-doing. He told Variety: “I’m deeply saddened by this story from Alexia. At no time did she share these feelings about her first sexual encounter with me, which took place roughly 28 years ago. I have taken multiple lie detector tests that affirm I never sexually assaulted anyone”.

He goes on: “Alexia and I dated, were intimate and attended multiple events together after she alleges the incident occurred in 1990. I considered her a friend for all these years and continue to have a warm relationship with members of her family. I believe we last spoke in 2006 when she called to express her disappointment over the fact that I had not attended an event honouring her father”.

Jones’s father is Clarence Jones, best known for being Martin Luther King’s attorney. She confirms that she last spoke to Simmons twelve years ago about the family event, but denies that she ever dated him back in the day. And while she may not have gone public about the alleged assault before, Variety says that Jones’s therapist has confirmed her client spoke about the incident during therapy sessions in the early 1990s.



READ MORE ABOUT: |