Entrepreneur and record producer Russell Simmons has reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against pay television service HBO.
Sources say the 67-year-old is seeking $20 million in damages. The case was filed on June 3 at New York State Court.
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The record executive blames HBO for deleting a part of the documentary titled On The Record. According to him, the part of the documentary that was not included would have put to rest a sexual allegation leveled against him.
The materials said to have been ignored include over 20 interviews with witnesses that challenge the negative narrative surrounding the record executive.
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Lawyers for Simmons also say the disregarded information “would have been discovered with due diligence and adherence to accepted journalistic standards.” They also want the documentary to be removed from the platform.
The documentary On the Record highlights the accounts of Simmons’ accusers, including two women who accuse him of sexual assault in the past. The businessman has denied all the allegations.
One of the women is said to have launched her sexual assault allegations against Russell Simmons back in 2017, claiming that they dated when she was a music journalist in the late ’80s.
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She alleged that the record executive sexually assaulted her in his Manhattan apartment the year after they broke up. The second woman also claims that the music executive sexually assaulted her on a date in 1990.
