Russell Simmons Steps Down From Companies After Sex Assault Claim

MANHATTAN, NY — Music mogul Russell Simmons said Thursday he is stepping down from his companies after screenwriter Jenny Lumet accused him of sexual assaulting her more than 25 years ago, the second allegation made against him in as many weeks. Lumet, the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet, described the encounter in excruciating detail in a letter published earlier Thursday.

In the letter to The Hollywood Reporter, Lumet said Simmons offered her a ride home from a Manhattan restaurant in his chauffeured car in 1991, but ordered the driver to his New York apartment instead of her home. Once there, Lumet alleged, Simmons forcefully had sex with her.

“It was dark, but not pitch dark. You closed the door,” Lumet wrote of her experience in his apartment. “At that point, I simply did what I was told. There was penetration. At one point you were only semi-erect and appeared frustrated. Angry? I remember being afraid that you would deem that my fault and become violent. I did not know if you were angry, but I was afraid that you were.”

Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Recordings and the clothing line Phat Farm, was also accused in a Nov. 19 Los Angeles Times article of forcing model Keri Claussen to perform oral sex on him in 1991.

Simmons denied Claussen’s allegation in a letter published days later by The Hollywood Reporter, which Lumet said caused her to speak out.

Soon after The Hollywood Reporter published Lumet's letter, Simmons issued a statement, saying he will step down from the businesses that he founded.

“I have been informed with great anguish of Jenny Lumet’s recollection about our night together in 1991. I know Jenny and her family and have seen her several times over the years since the evening she described. While her memory of that evening is very different from mine, it is now clear to me that her feelings of fear and intimidation are real,” Simmons wrote.

He added: “This is a time of great transition. The voices of the voiceless, those who have been hurt or shamed, deserve and need to be heard. As the corridors of power inevitably make way for a new generation, I don’t want to be a distraction so I am removing myself from the businesses that I founded. The companies will now be run by a new and diverse generation of extraordinary executives who are moving the culture and consciousness forward.”

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