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Writer Jenny Lumet: Russell Simmons Sexually Violated Me (Guest Column)
The screenwriter of 'Rachel Getting Married' and 'The Mummy' (and the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet) details a terrifying encounter with the legendary music producer, who says he is stepping down from his businesses in the wake of the new claims.Source: Hollywood Reporter
Russell Simmons, a prolific music and TV producer and co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, was accused of sexual assault and harassment by model Keri Claussen Khalighi in a Nov. 19 article in the Los Angeles Times. Simmons then denied the incident in a letter published Nov. 22 by The Hollywood Reporter. The letter prompted Jenny Lumet, an award-winning screenwriter (Rachel Getting Married, The Mummy), the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet, and granddaughter of singer/activist Lena Horne, to pen a response detailing her own experience with Simmons.
On Nov. 22, 2017, Russell Simmons wrote:
“I have never committed any acts of aggression or violence in my life. I would never knowingly cause fear or harm to anyone.”
Dear Russell:
I met you around 1987, through Rick Rubin, who has always been kind to me. Rick knew my sister through N.Y.U. and asked me, at the upstairs bar in a nightclub called the Palladium, to be in a movie you were producing that Rick was directing, starring RUN DMC. It was, frankly, a lousy movie and I was terrible in it.
Over the next three or four years, I would see you out and about, at a nightclub called Nell’s, mostly. I don’t recall you and I ever just going out to dinner, or having a one-to-one experience; we were always in groups, and we had many, many mutual friends. You were charming and funny and charismatic and self-deprecating. Not being in the music business made it possible for me to relax around you. And you were a fan of my grandmother, respected her, and told me so. You seemed sincere.
On Nov. 22, 2017, Russell Simmons wrote:
“I have never committed any acts of aggression or violence in my life. I would never knowingly cause fear or harm to anyone.”
Dear Russell:
I met you around 1987, through Rick Rubin, who has always been kind to me. Rick knew my sister through N.Y.U. and asked me, at the upstairs bar in a nightclub called the Palladium, to be in a movie you were producing that Rick was directing, starring RUN DMC. It was, frankly, a lousy movie and I was terrible in it.
Over the next three or four years, I would see you out and about, at a nightclub called Nell’s, mostly. I don’t recall you and I ever just going out to dinner, or having a one-to-one experience; we were always in groups, and we had many, many mutual friends. You were charming and funny and charismatic and self-deprecating. Not being in the music business made it possible for me to relax around you. And you were a fan of my grandmother, respected her, and told me so. You seemed sincere.
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/writer-jenny-lumet-russell-simmons-sexually-violated-me-guest-column-1062934?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=THR%20Breaking%20News_2017-11-30%2006:30:00_jstrause&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_breakingnews
