Russell Simmons Accused of Rape by Concert-Goer

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has been hit with a $10 million lawsuit accusing him of rape.

A woman, who filed the suit anonymously claims she attended a concert with Simmons, claims he raped her in his hotel room.

According to TMZ, the woman says she was chaperoning her son — who was in elementary school at the time — at a hip hop concert. Simmons then approached and invited them backstage to meet the headliner. She says she accepted the offer, and afterward Simmons invited her to a party at the Clarion Hotel in the Los Angeles Area.

The woman then claims she dropped her kid off and hung out with Simmons at a hotel bar and a nightclub. According to the suit, he eventually told her he needed to go to his hotel room to “get something”.

Once she was inside the room however, the suit claims that Simmons said, “I am going to f— you,” and that he also threatened her son.

“Simmons threw her on the bed and raped her,” the suit claims.

The complaint does not give much detail about when or where the alleged rape occurred.

In a statement, Simmons denied the claim and said he had passed a lie detector test.

“I vehemently deny all the allegations made against me,” he said. “They have shocked me to my core as I have never been abusive or violent in any way in my relations with women. I have submitted myself to multiple lie detector tests. I denied forced sex and sexual harassment allegations brought against me in each test; I also answered no to the question, ‘Have you ever physically forced any woman to have sexual intercourse?’ I passed all of the lie detector tests.”

According to Variety, the suit was filed by attorney A. Douglas Mastroianni.

Simmons stepped aside from his business in November 2017 when allegations against him first surfaced.

He was one of the first high-profile men identified in October, during the early days of the #MeToo movement. A woman named Keri Claussen Khalighi described her experience as a young teenage model, when she said that she spent a terrifying weekend in Simmons’ apartment with him and Brett Ratner.

Since then, he’s been accused publicly accused of assault or harassing several women over the years. Most recently, Jennifer Jarosik, a filmmaker, claimed that Simmons sexually assaulted her inside of his Beverly Hills home in 2016. She is seeking $5 million in damages.

Today, Simmons maintains his innocence, though he’s learned not to turn to social media for validation. The producer took some flack for trying to start a counter movement to the #MeToo movement, centered around the hashtag “Not Me.” He told Page Six that he no longer wants to give any credence to the court of public opinion.

“I look forward to having my day in court – where, unlike the court of public opinion, I will have the ability to make use of fair processes that ensure that justice will be done and that the full truth will be known,” he said.

While many women have spoken up against Simmons, one source of support has been his ex-wife, Kimora Simmons, who posted a testament to him on Instagram.

“I add my voice to the chorus of those speaking out against harassment and violence in all its forms,” Lee Simmons wrote. “I have known Russell for over 25 years. We were close friends, married, divorced, and have remained friends, co-parents and partners throughout it all. These allegations against him are nothing like the person I have known in all that time. I have known him to be a caring and supportive father and someone who has worked tirelessly to uplift disenfranchised communities.”