Yahoo Finance Russell Simmons lawsuit, explained: Rape accuser, former exec Drew Dixon claims defamation
Russell Simmons is facing his second lawsuit of the week, this one alleging defamation.
According to a complaint obtained by USA TODAY Thursday, former Def Jam executive Drew Dixon has filed a lawsuit in New York against Simmons, accusing the Def Jam Recordings co-founder of making defamatory statements in response to her allegations of sexual assault. Dixon was one of three women who accused Simmons of rape in a 2017 New York Times article. She was later featured in "On the Record," a 2020 documentary about the allegations against Simmons.
The lawsuit, sent to USA TODAY by Dixon's attorney, alleges that Simmons defamed Dixon while denying the allegations against him in a December interview with the "In Depth with Graham Bensinger" podcast.
In the podcast, Simmons maintained he has "never been forceful in any of my relationships" but that it's possible that "someone" could "want notoriety in the market where people thirst for fame, even infamous." He downplayed the allegations made against him by claiming that "we're talking about six serious accusations" out of "thousands" of people he has "slept with."
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USA TODAY has reached out to media representatives and lawyers for Simmons.
Simmons also said on the podcast, "(Rape is) a serious word, but I think they've changed the meaning because I've never been violent to anybody. Rape is a violent crime."
The lawsuit alleges that in making these statements about six accusations, that "necessarily includes Ms. Dixon," Simmons subjected her "to public ridicule, contempt, and disgrace by, among other things, calling Ms. Dixon a liar in published statements with the malicious intent of discrediting and further damaging Ms. Dixon worldwide."
Simmons allegedly made the false statements to "destroy" Dixon's reputation, according to the suit, "and cause her to lose all credibility in her efforts to work in the music and entertainment industry" and help victims of sexual abuse.
Dixon's lawsuit reiterated her allegations against Simmons, that he "violently" raped her at his apartment in 1995. She started working as director of A&R at Def Jam in 1994, when she was 23, and alleges Simmons soon began subjecting her to unwanted sexual advances. She says she resigned after the alleged assault but did not report the incident to the police due to fear of retribution.
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"Ms. Dixon has taken enough abuse," Dixon's attorney Sigrid McCawley said in a statement to USA TODAY Thursday. "Not only was she violently raped by Russell Simmons – profoundly disrupting her personal and professional life – but after she tried to move forward and heal, he then further abused her by publicly proclaiming that she lied about the rape in search of 'fame.' Mr. Simmons has used his public platform to re-traumatize and terrorize Ms. Dixon, and the time has now come to hold him accountable for his defamatory statements and to end this cycle of abuse."
This latest lawsuit comes after Simmons on Tuesday was sued in the Southern District of New York for allegedly raping a former Def Jam Recording executive. The woman, who was identified in the complaint as Jane Doe, accused Simmons of assaulting her in the 1990s at his Manhattan apartment.
"When Ms. Doe learned about the accounts of the other survivors, she was struck by how similar they were to her own horrible experience at the hands of Mr. Simmons," the complaint stated.
Simmons stepped down from his businesses after facing the sexual assault allegations in 2017.
Russell Simmons accused of raping, harassing former Def Jam executive in new lawsuit
Contributing: Naledi Ushe, KiMi Robinson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russell Simmons lawsuit: Rape accuser Drew Dixon says he defamed her
