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More ‘Powerful Men’ Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
They’re dropping like flies…
Nine new women have come forward alleging sexual misconduct or assault by music mogul Russell Simmons. Four say Simmons raped them.
In a story published Wednesday by The New York Times, four new women detailed a pattern of alleged violent sexual behavior by Simmons, 60, disclosing incidents from 1988 to 2014.
The Los Angeles Times followed shortly after with accounts from five additional women accusing Simmons of sexual misconduct over three decades.
“I vehemently deny all these allegations,” Simmons said in a statement sent to USA TODAY by his rep, Steve Elzer. “These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual.”
The new allegations follow two accusations of sexual assault previously reported by the Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter.
The New York Times reports that in 1995 Drew Dixon was working her dream job as an executive at Def Jam Recordings, which Simmons co-founded. The mogul regularly harassed her and exposed his erect penis to her, she said, and later that year raped her in his downtown Manhattan apartment. She quit Def Jam soon after but was subsequently harassed by another boss, L.A. Reid.
Singer Tina Baker says Simmons raped her in the early 1990s when he was her manager, she told the Times. “The second he agreed to work with me, my budget increased, the label was paying more attention to me,” Ms. Baker recalled. But after the assault, she said, “I went into oblivion.”
In 1987, music journalist Toni Sallie met Simmons while on assignment. The two dated briefly, and remained cordial, she told the Times. But in the fall of 1988, she says the mogul invited her to his Manhattan apartment for a party he was hosting for his girlfriend. When Sallie arrived, the place was empty except for Simmons, she recalled. Saying he wanted to show her the apartment, Simmons led her to his bedroom.
“He pushed me on the bed and jumped on top of me, and physically attacked me,” she said. “We were fighting. I said no.” He raped her, she said, and a year later attacked her at a music conference in South Florida.
PBS News’ Tavis Smiley. PBS has launched an investigation and has suspended him.
“Effective today, PBS has indefinitely suspended distribution of ‘Tavis Smiley,’ produced by TS Media, an independent production company,” it said in a statement, according to Variety. “PBS engaged an outside law firm to conduct an investigation immediately after learning of troubling allegations regarding Mr. Smiley. This investigation included interviews with witnesses as well as with Mr. Smiley. The inquiry uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS, and the totality of this information led to today’s decision.”
The investigation found credible allegations that Smiley had engaged in sexual relationships with multiple subordinates, sources said. Some witnesses interviewed expressed concern that their employment status was linked to the status of a sexual relationship with Smiley. In general, witnesses described Smiley as creating a verbally abusive and threatening environment that went beyond what could be expected in a typical high-pressure work environment. Several expressed concerns about retaliation.
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NFL Network has suspended the analysts Marshall Faulk, Heath Evans and Ike Taylor “pending an investigation” into allegations of sexual harassment and assault, the network announced late Monday.
The allegations were made in a lawsuit by a former NFL Network employee, Jami Cantor, who sued NFL Enterprises, the league’s media arm that operates the network, in Los Angeles Superior Court in October, alleging age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work environment, and wrongful termination, among other complaints.
Eric Weinberger, the president of the Bill Simmons Media Group and a former NFL Network executive, was suspended by the media group as a result of allegations made about him in the lawsuit.
“These are very serious and disturbing allegations that we were made aware of today,” a spokesman for the Bill Simmons Media Group said in a statement. “We are placing Eric on leave indefinitely until we have a better understanding of what transpired during his time at the N.F.L., and we will conduct our own internal investigation.”
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Everyday I wonder who’s next?
