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Hip-hop mogul and pioneering co-founder of Def Jam Records Russell Simmons was accused of rape and sexual assault by a number of women within recent weeks, stepping down from leadership positions in his various businesses as a result. However, Simmons has maintained his innocence all along and has now issued a personal statement denying the accusations against him with a strongly worded Instagram post and a hashtag, #NotMe.
While the wisdom of co-opting a social movement’s hashtag is debatable (see: the backlash against #AllLivesMatter or #BlueLivesMatter users), Simmons is unequivocal about trying to shut down his accusers. “Today, I begin to properly defend myself,” he wrote. “I will prove without any doubt that I am innocent of all rape charges. Today, I will focus on “The Original Sin” (Keri Claussen), the claim that created this insane pile on of my #MeToo. Stay tuned! We’ll share evidence today… And tomorrow the case of Jenny Lumet. My intention is not to diminish the #MeToo movement in any way, but instead hold my accusers accountable. #NotMe Again, this is not a movement against or even in conjunction with #Metoo. It’s just a statement about my innocence.”
Simmons has given himself a tall task. Proving a negative is pretty much impossible, especially for an incident that allegedly happened so long ago. There’s currently no indication what his “evidence” is, but it appears that he isn’t quite prepared to admit any possible wrongdoing.
