Russell Simmons Faces Defamation Lawsuit Over Sexual Assault Allegations
Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Records, is facing a new lawsuit. This time, it’s for defamation. The lawsuit has been filed by Drew Dixon, a former music executive who alleges that Simmons sexually assaulted her and then defamed her by labeling her a “liar” when she made the accusations public, as per court documents that Rolling Stone obtained.
Dixon, who served as an A&R executive at the label from 1993 and left shortly after the alleged assault in 1995, initiated the lawsuit in New York on Thursday. She is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.
Dixon’s lawyers refer to a December interview in which Simmons minimized the allegations of harassment and sexual assault, stating “Yeah, [rape is] a serious word, but I think they’ve changed the meaning.” He also insinuated that his accusers might be “thirst[ing] for fame” and asserted that all his relationships were consensual.
The court papers allege that Simmons “has gone on a concerted and malicious campaign to discredit Ms. Dixon and to so damage her reputation” to the extent that her claims would not be believable. They further state that “this defamation has exacerbated the paralyzation of Ms. Dixon professionally.” (A representative for Simmons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
In a statement given to Rolling Stone, Dixon’s lawyers, Sigrid McCawley and Kenya Davis of Boies Schiller Flexner, said, “Ms. Dixon has taken enough abuse. 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.”
Dixon first disclosed her alleged encounter with Simmons to The New York Times in 2017. She claimed that she had to constantly ward off Simmons’ sexual advances while working at Def Jam. She alleges that he would often try to grope and kiss her and would expose himself to her. One night in 1995, while waiting for a car in Simmons’ apartment, Dixon alleges that he grabbed her from behind, pinned her to a bed, and sexually assaulted her. “The last thing I remember was him pinning me down to kiss me on the bed,” she told the newspaper, saying she “blacked out” and the next thing she remembered was being naked in a hot tub together. Dixon immediately informed a friend about the incident and later submitted a handwritten resignation letter, leaving her position at Def Jam.
Last December, Simmons responded to the accusations from more than 20 women who allege that the music mogul harassed or sexually assaulted them. (In addition to The New York Times article where Dixon and two other women came forward against Simmons, the 2020 documentary On The Record also featured multiple women who accused him of misconduct.)
In a conversation with journalist Graham Bensinger, Simmons confessed that he had been in “crude, compromising situations,” but insisted that he has “never been forceful in any of my relationships.”
Dixon’s attorneys underscored four statements from the interview to substantiate their claim of defamation, stating that in “their full context” Simmons has effectively accused Dixon of lying. Early in the discussion, Simmons admits that he’s slept with “thousands” of people but suggested only “six people” have come forward against him.
“I can simply tell you that I was in so many compromising situations, that people can have a recollection from 30 or 40 years ago, and it can be different from my recollection,” Simmons added. “And it could be one where there was perhaps a collaboration. If you had more foursomes than most guys at once, could someone leave and feel hurt? Could some reimagine a story out of thousands of people? Could someone want notoriety in the market where people thirst for fame, even infamous.” The lawsuit alleges that Simmons “has persisted in his efforts to discredit Ms. Dixon, referring to the ‘main accuser’ from On the Record and labeling her a liar for publicizing the account of the assault — defamation that began in December 2019 and has continued to this day.” The suit further claims that “this defamation has climbed the ranks to the apex of the leadership circle, encompassing not just Ms. [Oprah] Winfrey, but also other founding board members of Time’s Up, which includes some of our nation’s most influential women across various sectors from business to politics to entertainment.” (Winfrey had initially signed on as an executive producer of On the Record, but Simmons alleged she withdrew from the project “at his urging back” in late 2019.) This marks the second lawsuit against Simmons in the past week. A Jane Doe accuser lodged a lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging that after she joined Def Jam in the mid-1990s, Simmons “disrupted and derailed” her career following an alleged sexual assault at his New York apartment. (Simmons’ attorney refuted the allegations in a statement to Rolling Stone.)
Jane Doe’s lawsuit was filed under the provisions of New York’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, which offers a lookback window for survivors of gender-motivated violence until March 1, 2025. The music industry is currently undergoing a MeToo reckoning after both California and New York enacted laws to waive the statutes of limitations on sexual abuse allegations. Other individuals who have been sued include Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jimmy Iovine, Axl Rose, and the former CEOs of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow and Mike Greene.
