Russell Simmons has filed a lawsuit against HBO as well as Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, creators of the 2020 documentary film On the Record, which explored allegations of sexual assault and harassment from multiple women against the music mogul. The legal filing submitted in civil court in Manhattan alleges defamation and the dismissal of evidence provided by his representatives, per Variety, and seeks $20 million in damages.
In a statement, Simmons’ lawyer, Imran Ansari, and co-counsel Carla DiMare stated, “Despite voluminous support for Mr. Simmons in the form of credible information, persuasive evidence, witness statements, and calls for further investigation by notable members of the media, politics, and the civil rights movement, the defendants simply disregarded it.”
The filing claims that representatives for Simmons urged Casey Bloys, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, and other HBO executives to “review this evidence and information by multiple luminaries in media and politics, including but not limited to, civil rights leaders and members of Congress, and other high-profile black leaders; and board members within the Defendant corporation(s) itself.”
The legal representatives wrote that the filmmakers and media company have continued “to re-release globally, a film that tremendously disparaged and damaged Mr. Simmons with salacious and defamatory accusations that he vehemently denies.” On the Record premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival prior to streaming on HBO Max later that year. The lawsuit falls outside of the one-year statute of limitations to claim defamation, but could hinge on the global distribution mentioned in the statement from Ansari and DiMare.
In 2020, Dick told Rolling Stone that they “went out to Russell to participate in the documentary and [his people] declined.” When asked about the vetting process of the film, which was originally meant to be distributed by Apple TV+, Ziering said: “We always do a very rigorous process of vetting. We would never put anything out without that. We had not only our legal team, Harpo’s legal team and Apple’s legal team. Most of these stories — or many of these stories — had already been published in the New York Times [and other publications]. It’s probably one of our most rigorously vetted [films].”
From Rolling Stone US
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