Several high profile music executives have faced sexual assault accusations in recent years. In 2018, Sil Lai Abrams claimed Russell Simmons raped her in the 1990s.
Multiple other women also named Simmons as a sexual abuser. More than a dozen different alleged victims accused the Def Jam Recordings co-founder of various forms of sexual misconduct.
Simmons has now spoken about about the allegations. A recent episode of In Depth with Graham Bensinger featured a conversation with the 66-year-old entrepreneur from his Bali, Indonesia residence.
“I took nine lie detector tests, people don’t know that,” Simmons revealed. “Nine separate—seven from the chairman of the Polygraph Association. One for each of the serious accusations. When someone said, for instance, ‘I was violent.’ One person said that. I’ve never been violent. Took that. And one said I apologized. I never apologized about assaulting anyone. But if two people say it, because one said it, and #MeToo, and the second person said it, then I took a test for it.”
Simmons went on to admit being “insensitive” in his past relationships but denies ever being “forceful.” He also insisted the culture and conversation about sexual conduct have changed over the last four decades.
“I think to judge 40 years ago as if it was today, we get in trouble,” Simmons said. “We have to accept where we were and move on and be somewhere else in the future if we don’t like where we were. And I think that we’re doing that now. I think that’s the good that comes from #MeToo.”
The #MeToo movement brought global awareness to sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture. In addition to Simmons, other celebrities such as Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen, R. Kelly and, most recently, Diddy came under fire for alleged abusive behavior in the wake of #MeToo.