Russell Simmons moved to Bali to avoid the legal fallout from a litany of #metoo accusations, but that didn’t stop him from spending time, recently, in New York City. Veteran journalist Kevin Powell conducted many interviews with him there, attempting to understand his one-time idol’s perspective. In the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s withdrawal from producing On the Record — a documentary about Russell’s many alleged abuses — Powell wrestles with many difficult things: Russell’s attitude toward his accusers; the intersection of sexism and racism: toxic masculinity in hiphop; his own past mistakes; and Oprah’s mysterious choice to back out of the film.

Read The Story