Russell Simmons Accused Of Sexual Assault By Def Jam Recordings Music Executive In New Lawsuit

Cait Stoddard February 13th, 2024 - 12:47 PM

According to Pitchfork, in a newly filed lawsuit, a woman claims that Russell Simmons allegedly sexually assaulted her in New York back in the 1990s. The woman, identified as Jane Doe, currently lives in Los Angeles and in the alleged lawsuit Doe claims that she is a film producer who previously “worked as a senior level music executive at Def Jam Recordings.” Doe filed her alleged lawsuit on February 13 in a New York federal court.

According to the alleged lawsuit, Doe was a music video producer in the early 1990s, working on videos for Def Jam Recordings, which is the hip-hop label that Simmons co-founded with Rick Rubin back in 1984. At the label, she says: “she was responsible for supervising all film production and a demanding release schedule for a large artists roster.”

Doe allegedly claims that she and Simmons had an alleged professional relationship when they first met and the executive “was not flirtatious with her at all.” Doe allegedly went on to say that it was common practice to bring music videos to Simmons’s Manhattan apartment for review and she did so “with no incident.” According to the alleged complaint, allegedly “Simmons suddenly began to turn his rapacious attention toward Ms. Doe,” allegedly “invading her personal space while making sexual innuendos, suggestions, and advances, and rubbing the front of his pants.”

The alleged assault occurred on an occasion where “Ms. Doe brought to Mr. Simmons’s apartment a rough cut of a video she needed him to view for approval.” The executive, according to the lawsuit, “aggressively and relentlessly flirted with Ms. Doe, made sexual innuendos and advances, asked sexually explicit questions, including personal questions about her sexual preferences and questioning if she was currently wearing a bra.”

Simmons allegedly brought Doe to his bedroom to allegedly watch the rough cut of the music video where he allegedly asked Doe to have sex, in which she allegedly rejected his advances. The complaint allegedly said: “Mr. Simmons performed a ‘wrestling move,’ climbing on top of Ms. Doe and pinning her arms down on the bed.” Simmons allegedly persisted in asking Doe to have sex and she allegedly kept rejected him. The lawsuit claims that “Simmons [allegedly] ignored Ms. Doe’s resistance and proceeded to [allegedly] rape her.”

Doe has allegedly mentioned that following the alleged assault, she “quit Def Jam in 1997 and worked as an executive producer for film and commercial production companies.” She also has allegedly claimed that the result of the alleged assault, she has allegedly “struggled in her relationships with employers” and allegedly “became overwhelmed with anxiety.”