Russell Simmons recently hopped on Instagram live to speak about the current state of hip hop with multiple rap beefs going on.
During his live he shared his thoughts on Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef and warned people that things could get ugly. While speaking on the topic he revealed that people on social media have been sending him nasty memes about Diddy and explained why he doesn’t like everyone making jokes about his situation. “I know it’s fun to watch for some people. If I had a nickel for every nasty meme sent to me from people whose lives were enhanced and built by Sean Combs, I think it’s a bit hypocritical when the only reason you have a life is because you worked for him or he gave you a job or lifted you up somehow.”
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He continued, “watching our brothers fall is hurtful and everybody get together and laugh at our brothers fall or supporting the tearing down of our brothers, you know it’s tough. We may think it’s entertaining. Some of the memes are funny, but we have to look up and train our minds to see the good in things and not the negative.”
As we all know Diddy is facing multiple sexual assault lawsuits but Russell Simmons is also facing a new one himself. As we previously reported, in February the former Def Jam executive Drew Dixon filed a lawsuit in New York claiming the Def Jam Recordings co-founder made defamatory statements in response to her allegations of sexual assault. Now if you’re not familiar with Drew Dixon, she was one of the three women who accused Russell Simmons of rape back in 2017. Dixon’s lawyer is alleging that Simmons defamed Dixon by denying the allegations during a December interview with the “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” podcast.
In the podcast, Simmons stated he has “never been forceful in any of my relationships” but that it’s possible that “someone” could “want notoriety in the market where people thirst for fame, even infamous.” He downplayed the allegations made against him by claiming that “we’re talking about six serious accusations” out of “thousands” of people has “slept with.” Simmons also said on the podcast, “(Rape is) a serious word, but I think they’ve changed the meaning because I’ve never been violent to anybody. Rape is a violent crime.”
In the lawsuit, Dixon’s legal team says the statements Russell made about six accusations, that “necessarily includes Ms. Dixon,” Simmons subjected her “to public ridicule, contempt, and disgrace by, among other things, calling Ms. Dixon a liar in published statements with the malicious intent of discrediting and further damaging Ms. Dixon worldwide.”