In the first trailer for the explosive #MeToo documentary “On The Record,” Drew Dixon talks about how she found the strength to publicly accuse hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons of sexual assault and how enduring that attack made her feel like she was “reduced to nothing.”
“I didn’t say anything about what happened with Russell. He just grabbed me. He just grabbed me. And on saying no, I was reduced to nothing in that moment,” Dixon says in the trailer. “Nothing about anything that makes me who I am mattered.”
“On The Record” is the latest film directed and produced by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, who brought you “The Hunting Ground” and “The Invisible War.” And their film follows Dixon and accusers Sil Lai Abrams and Sheri Sher as they recount their time at Def Jam Records and the emotional struggle they went through in choosing to speak to the New York Times, which initially reported Dixon’s accusations.
The trailer for the documentary also shows how Dixon felt like she could be betraying the black community by speaking out against Simmons, and it examines how black women in particular have often been silenced in the #MeToo conversation.
“On The Record” first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, but not before becoming a hot button film in the press. “On The Record” was originally meant to premiere as an Apple TV+ original as presented by executive producer Oprah Winfrey. But Winfrey chose to pull her name from the project after it was announced to premiere at Sundance, saying that although she believed the women in the documentary, she felt new information had surfaced and those issues would not be able to be addressed in time before the movie was set to premiere.
Ultimately HBO Max scooped up the film, and it will now debut on the upcoming streaming service on May 27.
“On The Record” is produced by Dick and Ziering’s Jane Doe Films with Dan Cogan, Geralyn Dreyfous and Jenny Raskin for Impact Partners, Regina K Scully for Artemis Rising, Ian Darling for Shark Island Institute and Abigail Disney for Level Forward serving as executive producers. The creative team includes producers Jamie Rogers and Amy Herdy.
Watch the first trailer above.