Russell Simmons has been sued for defamation for allegedly trying to undermine sexual assault accusations made against him.
Drew Dixon, a former Def Jam Recordings executive who alleges she was raped by the music mogul in 1995, claims in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in New York’s state Supreme Court that Simmons engaged in a “concerted and malicious campaign to discredit” her with the aim of undercutting her rape accusations. Among other statements, Simmons said in an interview on a podcast in December, “Could someone want notoriety in the market where people thirst for fame” and “I’ve never been forceful in any of my relationships,” all of which were “consensual.”
The complaint was filed on the heels of another suit against Simmons for sexual assault and battery from an ex-executive at the label he cofounded, who sued as a Jane Doe.
In 1995, Dixon says Simmons invited her to his apartment under the guise of listening to a new demo, the suit says. There, he allegedly pinned her down on a bed and raped her.
Following the alleged assault, Dixon says she told her friends, some of whom were aware of Simmons’ “continuous pattern of sexual assault against her” but did not report it to law enforcement out of fear of retribution from the music mogul. She resigned shortly after.
Some of her allegations were published in 2017 by The New York Times in a story chronicling multiple alleged rapes by Simmons. Three years later, Dixon was the subject of a documentary, On the Record, centering on accusations of sexual abuse and harassment against the music mogul.
In December, Simmons was interviewed on In Depth With Graham Besinger. He said on the podcast, among other things, “If you slept with as many people as I slept with. Thousands. And we’re talking about six people.”
According to the complaint, Simmons made the statements with the aim of targeting the women who had publicly accused him of sexual assault, which includes Dixon.
“In their full context, Mr. Simmons’s statements have the effect of accusing Ms. Dixon and the ‘six people[’s]’ accounts of lying about being sexually assaulted by Mr. Simmons; that their recollection of the assault did not match his; and implying that Ms. Dixon lied about her account of the assault because she ‘le[ft] and fe[lt] hurt’ or ‘thirst[ed] for fame, even infamous,’” the complaint states.
Dixon also takes issue with Simmons buttressing his accusations by directing the interviewer to call Oprah Winfrey, an executive producer of On the Record who he claimed pulled her endorsement from the title at his urging in 2019, according to the suit.
“He has continued in his campaign to discredit Ms. Dixon, referring to the ‘main accuser’ from On the Record and calling her a liar for making the account of the assault public—defamation that started in December 2019 has continued until today,” writes Kenya Davis, a lawyer for Dixon, in the complaint. “This defamation has reached all the way up the ladder to the pinnacle of the leadership circle, not only including Ms. Winfrey, but other founding board members of Time’s Up, including some of our nation’s most powerful women spanning industries from business to politics to entertainment.”
By undermining her credibility, Dixon argues that she cannot make a living at a level commensurate with her experience and track record in the music industry. She claims Simmons’ defamation has foreclosed her reentry into the entertainment industry.
The complaint seeks an undisclosed amount in damages, which includes punitive damages for malicious conduct.
The suit against Simmons filed on Tuesday accused the music mogul of raping a former Def Jam senior music executive at his apartment in the 1990s. She similarly alleged her career was stalled by Simmons’ systematic harassment of her.
In November, Dixon sued Antonio “L.A.” Reid, a Grammy-winning music executive known for helping launch the careers of Usher, OutKast and Pink, for sexual assault and retaliation. She claimed he assaulted her on two occasions, after which he obstructed her career for rebuffing further advances.