Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has again been accused of rape.
Alleged victim, Alexia Norton Jones, granddaughter of book publisher W.W. Norton, has given a largely first-person account published by Variety on Tuesday.
Jones, a model and actress, joins more than a dozen women who have accused Simmons of sexual assault or rape. She filed a police report with the NYPD, from her home in Arizona, last Spring, detailing the incident that she said occurred in almost 30 years ago. Her case falls outside of the statute of limitations in New York for felonies, but she wanted to stand with the other alleged victims of abuse by Simmons, according to Variety.
In her first-person account, Jones said Simmons raped her in 1990, following a date at his Manhattan apartment. She alleges that Simmons pinned her against the wall and proceeded to force himself on her.
Jones, who also said she is a survivor of sexual abuse experienced as a young teenager, wrote the following of the alleged attack:
“Because he was overweight, I remember thinking it was like being attacked by a flabby walrus. I remember being pushed up against a wall. He pulled my dress up. I must have said no seven to 10 times, and then I acquiesced. It was very fast. I would say it happened in less than 10 minutes.”
Jones also wrote that race is an important part to the story:
“Russell is a Black man. We Black women in the community didn’t want him to fail. We wanted him to succeed. As a Black woman, we are told we have less value in society already. And then you have someone who is supposed to be a leader, and what he did to me. I was a gem. And he turned me into dirt.”
Simmons issued a statement to Variety denying that he had assaulted Jones. He has also denied any wrongdoing in regard to the other accusations. In November, following a column in The Hollywood Reporter by the screenwriter Jenny Lumet who accused him of rape, Simmons stepped down from his companies.
Read Alexia Norton Jones’ column in Variety.
