More Women Have Come Forward to Accuse Russell Simmons of Rape and Sexual Assault

Simmons has denied the claims.

Russell Simmons
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LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 09: Music producer Russell Simmons speaks onstage at the 2017 Make a Wish Gala on November 9, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Make A Wish)

Russell Simmons

Nearly a month after he was accused of assaulting a teenage model, Russell Simmons is facing more allegations of sexual misconduct.

The New York Times published a report Wednesday in which four women detailed their disturbing encounters with the music mogul between 1988 and 2014. Three of the women claim Simmons raped them. Shortly after that, the Los Angeles Times released a piece of their own in which five more women accuse Simmons of sexual misconduct. 

One of the alleged victims from the New York Times report, former Def Jam executive Drew Dixon, said Simmons began making sexual advances immediately after the label hired her in the early 1990s. She claims Simmons would make sexually graphic phone calls to her, asked her to sit on his lap during work meetings, tried to kiss her in a broom closet, and would regularly expose his erect penis to her. Though Dixon spoke about the alleged incidents to some of her co-workers, she attempted to endure the abuse out of concern for her job.

"I didn’t want to cut off my one conduit to having any hope of a career," she said. "I thought if I could survive long enough to have a hit—a real bona fide hit with my name on it—I would move categories." 

After she secured an executive production credit on the soundtrack of the music documentary The Show, Dixon assumed she had finally made that transition. So she let her guard down and accepted Simmons’ invitation to his apartment.

"I remember realizing I was cornered," she said.

Dixon said she rejected his advances, and told Simmons she recently had a gynecological procedure that prevented her from having sex. Simmons reportedly said he didn’t care.

"I just blacked out," she recalled. "The last thing I remember was him pinning me down to kiss me on the bed."

Like other victims, Dixon told friends about the alleged assault shortly after it happened, but chose not to report it to authorities at the time.

Music artist Tina Baker and journalist Tonie Sallie shared similar stories.

Simmons managed Baker in the early 1990s. She described an instance in which Simmons had invited her to his apartment to discuss her career. But Baker said things "got really ugly, pretty fast" shortly after she arrived. Simmons allegedly started to pour drinks and tried to kiss her. He then got on top of her, pushed her down, and reportedly told her "Don’t fight me."

"I did nothing, I shut my eyes and waited for it to end."

Sallie, a music journalist who met Simmons on assignment in the late 1980s, says she had gone on several dates with the mogul before breaking it off. Shortly after, she claims Simmons lured her to his apartment under the pretense he was hosting a party. No one was there except him.

"He pushed me on the bed and jumped on top of me, and physically attacked me," she said. "We were fighting. I said no."

Another woman named Christina Moore said she met Simmons in 2014 during Art Basel Miami. She claims she bumped into him while she and another women were lost and trying to find their group of friends. Simmons allegedly told them he knew where they needed to go. So they followed him.

"I felt duped," Moore said.

Simmons ended up taking the women to his room, where he immediately ran a bath. He then allegedly pushed Moore against one of the columns in his room and began to rub his "hands all over [her] body, up and down."

"I felt assaulted," she recalled.

The two women fled the room after he allegedly told Moore she needed to be tied up.

The music mogul has denied the claims. 

"I vehemently deny all these allegations. These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual," he said in a statement. "I have enormous respect for the women’s movement worldwide and their struggle for respect, dignity, equality and power."

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