Russell Simmons Claims Drew Dixon’s Defamation Lawsuit Is Based On ‘Opinion — Not Fact’

Russell Simmons attends the 2023 MusiCares Persons Of The Year honoring Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 3, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. | Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty

Russell Simmons was recently served in Bali and learned that he was the target of a defamation lawsuit from former Def Jam executive Drew Dixon, who has accused the mogul of sexual assault. Simmons is now asking that the lawsuit from Dixon be dismissed because he said he never mentioned the music executive’s name in recent comments about the claims he’s facing.

Radar Online reported that Simmons, 66, is angling to have Dixon’s defamation lawsuit tossed out after being served on March 5 while at the Gdas Bali Health And Wellness Resort.

From Radar Online:

Simmons has since argued that none of the “statements alleged in the Complaint are defamatory as a matter of law, because all the statements are opinion — not fact — and Plaintiff is not clearly identifiable in any of the statements” in a new court filing.

In her lawsuit, Dixon zeroed in on statements made by Simmons during a Dec. podcast interview in which he allegedly attempted to discredit rape accusations against him from six women.

Simmons was a guest on In Depth With Graham Besinger where he explained that he was never “forceful” in his relationships and that anything physical between another woman was consensual.

“If you had more foursomes than most guys at once, could someone leave and feel hurt? Could some reimagine a story out of thousands of people? Could someone want notoriety in the market where people thirst for fame, even infamous,” Simmons said.

Dixon’s legal team wrote that Simmons has “gone on a concerted and malicious campaign to discredit Ms. Dixon and to so damage her reputation.”

Simmons maintains that he was speaking generally and not about anyone specific.

Simmons was purportedly “caught off guard” by the lawsuit he was served last month.

The AllHipHop website reported that the process server, Daniel John Ayoub, arrived at the resort in Indonesia on March 5 and managed to gain entry to a VIP area through two security checkpoints.

He sat in the restaurant area and was about to leave when Simmons arrived and sat with a group. Ayoub is quoted as saying he waited before serving Simmons, and informed him that the source of the papers were “from the State of New York.” Simmons is then quoted as responding “Ah s—t! F—!” before dropping the papers to the ground.

Ayoub then goes on record saying that he overheard Simmons calling someone on the phone, audibly flustered.

“South African guy just handed me an envelope. And he’s with a big Black guy,” he said. “Should I open the doc now, or wait till later? How did these people get in here?”

The server then exited the resort, of which Simmons notably is a founder and investor.

Representatives for Simmons and Dixon had no comment when contacted about the matter.

The defamation lawsuit was brought against Simmons in February by Dixon, a veteran music industry executive who alleges that he sexually assaulted her while working at Def Jam. Dixon first made the claims while appearing in the On The Record documentary in 2020. She sued Simmons after comments that he made during a December 2023 appearance on the In Depth with Graham Besinger podcast about the allegations, which, according to the documents of the lawsuit, “continued a concerted and malicious campaign to discredit Ms. Dixon and to so damage her reputation that Ms. Dixon’s factual reporting of what he did to her would not be credited.”

Several other women, including author, inspirational speaker and domestic violence activist Sil Lai Abrams, have also accused Simmons of raping them. Some of those accusations have resulted in criminal complaints against Simmons.

Simmons is also facing another lawsuit filed in February in a New York federal court from a victim referred to as Jane Doe, who claims that her career and life were “disrupted and derailed by a devastating experience at the hands of Simmons in addition to false imprisonment, battery and causing emotional distress.

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