Russell Simmons is facing another lawsuit, this time for defamation after former music executive Drew Dixon claims the Def Jam Records co-founder defamed her by calling her a “liar” after she accused him of sexually assaulting her, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone.
Dixon, who worked as an A&R executive at the label from 1993 until leaving shortly after the alleged assault in 1995, filed suit in New York on Thursday and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Attorneys for Dixon point to an interview Simmons gave in December where he downplayed the accusations of harassment and sexual assault, saying “Yeah, [rape is] a serious word, but I think they’ve changed the meaning.” He further suggested that his accusers could be “thirst[ing] for fame” and claimed all of his relationships had been consensual.
Simmons “has gone on a concerted and malicious campaign to discredit Ms. Dixon and to so damage her reputation” to the point her claims would not be credible, the court papers claim, and “this defamation has exacerbated the paralyzation of Ms. Dixon professionally.” (A representative for Simmons did not immediately reply to a request for comment.)
In a statement provided to Rolling Stone, Dixon’s attorneys 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 came forward about her alleged experience with Simmons to The New York Times in 2017, alleging she constantly had to fend off Simmons’ sexual advances while working at Def Jam. While at work, she claims he would frequently try to grope and kiss her and would expose himself to her. One night in 1995, Dixon alleges while waiting for a car in Simmons’ apartment, 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 recalled was being naked in a hot tub together. Dixon immediately told a friend about the encounter and later submitted a handwritten resignation letter, leaving her position at Def Jam.
Last December, Simmons addressed the accusations from more than 20 women who claim 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 spoke to multiple women who accused him of misconduct.)
In an interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, Simmons admitted while he had been in “crude, compromising situations,” he claimed he has “never been forceful in any of my relationships.”
Dixon’s lawyers highlighted four statements from the interview to make their claim of defamation, saying in “their full context” Simmons has effectively accused Dixon of lying. Early in the conversation, Simmons acknowledges 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.”
Simmons “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,” the suit claims. “This defamation has reached all the way up the ladder to the pinnacle of the leadership circle, not only including Ms. [Oprah] 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.” (Winfrey was signed on as an executive producer of On the Record, but Simmons claimed she pulled out of the project “at his urging back” in late 2019.)
This is the second lawsuit for Simmons in the past week. A Jane Doe accuser filed suit on Tuesday, claiming that after joining Def Jam in the mid-1990s, Simmons “disrupted and derailed” her career after allegedly sexually assaulting her at his New York apartment. (Simmons’ attorney denied the allegations in a statement to Rolling Stone.)
Jane Doe’s suit was filed under New York’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, which provides a lookback window for survivors of gender-motivated violence through March 1, 2025. The music industry is facing a MeToo reckoning after both California and New York passed legislation to waive the statutes of limitations on sexual abuse claims. Others who’ve faced suits include Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jimmy Iovine, Axl Rose and the former Recording Academy CEOs Neil Portnow and Mike Greene.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
