Following the arrival of HBO Max's On the Record documentary exposé, Russell Simmons has appeared on the Breakfast Club and people aren't happy about it. The doc focuses on a number of sexual abuse and harassment allegations leveled against Simmons, and features interviews with over 20 women who have accused the mogul of such behavior. Simmons has repeatedly denied the allegations, and one of his accusers made it clear how she feels about the Breakfast Club interviewing him.
Sil Lai Abrams has previously shared her story about Simmons, who she said raped her in 1994. Posting on Twitter, she criticized the radio show for giving him a platform. "Why do you carry water for this man?" Abrams tweeted. "Why now? Why are you so tone deaf? You're all complicit in ensuring that black women's right to bodily autonomy continues to be denied. You're also rape apologists."
Responding to some on Twitter asking why she is "relitigating 30 year old stories," she added, "I wrote about the rape in my first and second books. 2007 and 2016 respectively." She added that it took 13 years to share her story with the world. In further tweets, she said the fact he's getting airtime makes her "feel sick."
"The biggest radio show in the black community just gave a huge middle finger to black women and survivors of sexual assault," Abrams continued. "Stunts like what @breakfastclubam is pulling this morning by having Russell Simmons on to talk about *social justice of all things* is why it took over 25 years for R. Kelly to start to be held accountable for his serial predation of Black women and girls."
Speaking with the Breakfast Club, Simmons denied the allegations leveled against him again. "I have not watched it," he said at the 12:50 point of the interview, when asked if he has seen On the Record. "I’m guilty—of having underwritten, supported, made soundtracks for, taken advantage of, and lived in a grossly unjust society. I helped write the song ‘I’m a Ho’ with Whodini. … I made the movie How to Be a Player and Bell Bellamy played me. So I know what I'm guilty of, and I've been unconscious as a playboy, and today the title is appropriate of ‘womanizer,’" Simmons said. "So I'm guilty of that. And you know, back then I thought it was a game."
He spoke about Oprah Winfrey's former involvement with the documentary, as she was an executive producer but later dropped out. Simmons and other notable celebrities, including 50 Cent, criticized Oprah for her involvement. On the Breakfast Club, he put a lot of weight on Oprah dropping out without further explaining himself.
When asked how many women have accused him of sexual assaul, Simmons replied, “six or seven.” In fact, at least 15 women have alleged that Simmons is guilty of sexual misconduct.
See what Twitter had to say about the interview below.
