Russell Simmons Sued for Defamation by Rape Accuser
Russell Simmons is facing yet another lawsuit, this time for defamation by a former Def Jam exec who claims Simmons tried to undermine her rape accusations against him by “calling her a liar.”
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday and obtained by The Daily Beast, former Def Jam A&R director Drew Dixon accuses Simmons of a “concerted and malicious campaign to discredit” her and to “damage her reputation” via a December podcast interview. Dixon alleges she was raped by Simmons in 1995.
The complaint stems from Simmons’ interview on In Depth With Graham Basinger back in December. Though Simmons did not mention Dixon by name in the interview, he referenced statements she made in a 2017 New York Times article about the alleged assault, as well as the 2020 documentary On the Record, which chronicled accusations of abuse and harassment against the music mogul.