Oprah Winfrey pulled out as executive producer of a documentary about sex abuse claims against Russell Simmons just weeks before its Sundance premiere in 2020 — casting a pall of doubt over the women in it.
At the time the daytime legend cited “inconsistencies”in stories for the hammer-blow decision.
But new court papers suggest that Winfrey may have been convinced to drop out of “On The Record” not by factual flaws in its account but by scuttlebutt about the motives of one of the Def Jam mogul’s accusers.
Back in January 2020, Winfrey suddenly told the filmmakers that if they didn’t pull the Apple documentary from the famed Utah film festival, she would take her name off the project.
In a statement, Winfrey said she “unequivocally believes and supports the women,” adding that their stories “deserve to be told and heard.”
She added, “In my opinion, there is more work to be done on the film to illuminate the full scope of what the victims endured and it has become clear that the filmmakers and I are not aligned in that creative vision.”
She later told “CBS This Morning,” “I just care about getting it right, and I think there are some inconsistencies in the stories that we need to look at.”
But on Friday, attorneys for Drew Dixon, a former Def Jam exec who accused Simmons in 2017 of raping her in 1995 (which he has strenuously denied), filed papers in a court case that Simmons launched against Warner Brothers Discovery, which aired the film on its channel, HBO.
As part of the filing, they provided an exhibit — a letter from the filmmakers to Winfrey in which they appeared to be trying to reassure Winfrey about doubts about Dixon that had been raised to her by an unnamed “friend.”
It seems from the response that Winfrey had explained to the filmmakers that her concerns were based on her friend’s claims that Dixon had been in a romantic relationship with Simmons (which she has denied) at the time of the alleged attack, and that the executive was interested in getting fame and money by making the rape claim.
The filmmaker refutes those claims point by point, but concludes by saying that, even if her friend’s claims were true, “How does any of the above lead one to conclude Drew wasn’t raped? Fame-seekers, as well as prostitutes and gold diggers, can be raped. And persons in consensual relationships can be raped.”
Simmons has been accused of rape, attempted rape and other sexual misconduct by a total of 12 women. He resigned from Def Jam in 2017. He has not be charged with any crimes. He has denied wrongdoing.
Dixon has sued Simmons for defamation after he claimed in an interview that she’s lying about the alleged rape.
She has also sued music mogul L.A. Reid for alleged sexual assault.
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