Drew Dixon, a former Def Jam Records exec who has accused Russell Simmons of sexual assault accusers, denounced the hip-hop mogul’s Wednesday appearance on the radio show “The Breakfast Club,” where he sidestepped the multiple accusations and spoke about raising his daughters to be strong leaders.
“Teaching your daughters to have ‘boundaries’ and say ‘no’ won’t protect them from rapists like you @UncleRUSH I said ‘NO’… ‘STOP’… ‘PLEASE’… ‘I’M BEGGING YOU’… and CRIED, while you ripped off my clothes, pinned me down and told me to stop fighting. F— all the way off,” wrote Dixon, who is one of many women whose accusations of sexual assault by Simmons resurfaced this month with the release of the new HBO Max documentary “On the Record.” (He has previously denied accusations of rape and criminal assault.)
In the interview on the New York-based “Breakfast Club,” Simmons said, “I want my daughters to know how to say no, and I want my daughters to put up boundaries and be strong and be leaders.”
He also called himself an “unconscious playboy” and said, “I can never say that someone doesn’t feel victimized. I can tell you that I don’t feel that I victimized them.”
Other listeners were also outraged by Simmons’ remarks — and even the show’s decision to invite him on in the midst of the ongoing controversy about his treatment of women.
Former editor in chief of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth tweeted, “In a moment when there is no justice for #BreonnaTaylor & NO PATH to justice for the MANY women who bravely came forward against #RussellSimmons in #OnTheRecord why would HE be given your platform @breakfastclubam?”
She added that she stands with his accusers.
One listener tweeted that the rap impresario was “trying to point at how rockstars acted.”
“How does that clear you???” they asked. “We don’t care about rockstars, we care about OUR culture. You are apart of that, so we are checking you.”
“The Breakfast Club,” a popular syndicated radio show based in New York, advertised the interview as one where fans could “listen to the full interview on how the death of Andre Harrell has effected him, learn about his healthy vegan practices, his strive for female inclusivity for the world’s survival, and much more.”