“Knock it off” — Russell Simmons asks fans to stop attacking his celebrity “friends” for visiting him in Bali

Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons requested fans to stop attacking his friends who came to visit him in Bali. In an Instagram live session, re-posted on the platform by Live Bitez on Tuesday, August 20, Simmons chronicled his work for the black community, women’s rights, and gay rights movements and maintained his innocence against recent allegations. He said:

"Knock it off. I love you, I just don't want my friends attacked. I wish you all the best, but just leave my friends alone. Don't attack them for visiting me."

Simmons was accused of s*xual misconduct and r*pe by multiple women, from 2017 to as recently as February of this year. However, the record executive shifted to Bali in 2018 and hasn't resided in the United States since. Multiple celebrities including Usher, MC Lyte, and Taraji P. Henson have received backlash for traveling to Bali to catch up with the entrepreneur.

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"Are you under some kind of tricknology?"- Russell Simmons asks those who criticize his friends for visiting him

Russell Simmons clapped back at the backlash faced by his celebrity friends for visiting him. During a recent Instagram live on Tuesday, the under-fire record executive asked the black community, if they have forgotten that he got "10,000 black men" out of jail and registered "more of" the community to vote, than anybody else.

He also pointed out his work for the Black Lives Matter movement, women’s rights, and "even gay rights movements". He said:

"To let them demonize me in such a way that my friends cannot visit me without you attacking them — but yet you stand next to Donald Trump, knock it off."

Simmons detailed that he lived in Bali to "heal people" and give them "spiritual and mental rejuvenation". The record executive asked:

"So just attacking people who visit me — you have no idea who all have been here — are you under some kind of tricknology? Are you lost? I’m your friend, black people, and I’ve been my whole life a supporter of all the initiatives that lift you up."

Russell Simmons further claimed that he had never spoken to a police officer or a judge regarding the crimes that he had been accused of. He stated that Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump had more credible claims against them than he did. He even asked if any of the aforementioned people took nine lie detector tests- something that he had gone through.

As mentioned earlier, Russell Simmons requested people to leave his friends alone and not attack them when they visit him. Some of the famous faces who've caught backlash for visiting Simmons in Bali include Taraji P. Henson, Usher, MC Lyte, and LisaRaye McCoy.

Back in November 2017, Billboard reported that a fashion model named Keri Claussen Khalighi accused Simmons and director Brett Ratner of s*xually assaulting her. The very same month, ex-employee and Rachel Getting Married writer Jenny Lumet penned a column for The Reporter claiming that Simmons had s*xually violated and r*ped her in 1991.

Per Billboard, by the last month of the year, four women in total accused Simmons of r*pe while five others accused him of s*xual misconduct. The very next year, another woman also alleged that Simmons r*ped her in 1990. In January 2018, he even faced a $5 million lawsuit from one of his accusers, Jennifer Jarosik but the suit was dismissed in April.

As per Billboard, most recently in February 2024, another former Def Jam employee, who went by 'Jane Doe', sued Russell Simmons for r*pe and assault in the ’90s. Russell Simmons, who has previously denied all allegations against him and maintained his innocence in all cases, has been residing on the Indonesian island of Bali since 2018.