Russell Simmons is firing back after nine more women accused him of rape and sexual harassment in articles from The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
A day after those allegations came out, Simmons responded by posting an image of the hashtag #NotMe to his Instagram account.
In the caption, the hip-hop producer said he would “begin to properly defend myself [and] prove without any doubt that I am innocent of all rape charges.”
In his post, Simmons directly acknowledges his two initial accusers, former model Keri Claussen Khalighi and screenwriter Jenny Lumet, whose accounts prompted him to step down from his businesses.
“Today, I will focus on “The Original Sin” (Keri Claussen), the claim that created this insane pile on of my #MeToo. Stay tuned! We’ll share information today… And tomorrow the case of Jenny Lumet,” Simmons wrote in his post.
Last month, Khalighi publicly accused Simmons of sexually assaulting and intimidating her into performing oral sex on him when she was 17 in 1991. Not long afterward, Lumet wrote a column in The Hollywood Reporter, saying Simmons had sex with her without consent.
Simmons claims in his post that “my intention is not to diminish the #MeToo movement in anyway, but instead hold my accusers accountable.”
He stressed that #NotMe is not a movement. “It’s just a statement about my innocence,” he wrote.