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Russell Simmons Accused of Rape by W.W. Norton’s Granddaughter

Russell-Simmons-Accused-of-Rape
Russell SimmonsFernando Lucena/startraksphoto.com

Another woman has come forward to accuse Russell Simmons of sexual misconduct. Alexia Norton Jones, the granddaughter of the late book publisher W.W. Norton, claimed that the Def Jam Recordings cofounder raped her after they went on a date in November 1990.

Related: Hollywood’s Sexual Misconduct Scandals

Jones detailed her alleged encounter with Simmons, now 60, to Variety in a story published on Tuesday, July 10. She alleged that after the music producer invited her to see his apartment in downtown Manhattan, he pressed her up against a wall and raped her.

“It was such a fast attack. He pulled my dress up,” Jones, who was 31 at the time, told the outlet. “I must have said no seven to 10 times.”

Jones added that Simmons, who was in the same social circle as her and friends with her father, Clarences Jones, continued to pursue her. She told Variety that she filed a police report with the NYPD last spring, nearly three decades after the alleged incident.

Related: Olivia Munn, Lupita Nyong’o and More of the Most Powerful Statements by Women About Sexual Harassment

Simmons denied the allegations in a statement to Variety: “I’m deeply saddened by this story from Alexia. At no time did she share these feelings about her first sexual encounter with me, which took place roughly 28 years ago. I have taken multiple lie detector tests that affirm I never sexually assaulted anyone. Alexia and I dated, were intimate and attended multiple events together after she alleges the incident occurred in 1990. I considered her a friend for all these years and continue to have a warm relationship with members of her family. I believe we last spoke in 2006 when she called to express her disappointment over the fact that I had not attended an event honoring her father.”

More than a dozen women have accused Simmons of sexual misconduct. He first made headlines for the allegations in November 2017 after a woman named Keri Claussen Khalighi accused him of sexual misconduct. Later that month, screenwriter Jenny Lumet accused him of sexual assault. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times detailed nine more reports of sexual misconduct made by different women in December.

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Simmons stepped down from his businesses after Lumet’s accusation.

“I have been informed with great anguish of Jenny Lumet’s recollection about our night together in 1991,” Simmons said in a statement to Us Weekly in November. “I know Jenny and her family and have seen her several times over the years since the evening she described. While her memory of that evening is very different from mine, it is now clear to me that her feelings of fear and intimidation are real. While I have never been violent, I have been thoughtless and insensitive in some of my relationships over many decades and I sincerely and humbly apologize.”

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