>>THE NEW YORK TIMES RELEASED A LENGTHY REPORT DETAILING THE
ACCOUNTS OF SEVERAL WOMEN WHO SAID THEY WERE EITHER SEXUALLY
HARASSED OR EVEN RAPED BY RUSSELL SIMMONS, AND RUSSELL
SIMMONS HAS RESPONDED TO IT.
SO HAS THE NYPD, WHICH HAS DECIDED
TO OPEN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THESE ALLEGATIONS.
NOW --
>>SIMMONS ADAMANTLY DENIES IT, HE SAYS THAT IS NOT WHAT
HAPPENED, I'VE NOT RAPED ANYONE, I'M READY AND WILLING TO
PARTICIPATE IN ANY TYPE OF INVESTIGATION TO PROVE MY
INNOCENCE.
HIS LAWYER SAID THE FOLLOWING --
>>SIMMONS HIMSELF RELEASED A STATEMENT SAYING --
>>ONE QUICK NOTE HERE, IF FOUR WOMEN ARE ACCUSING YOU OF RAPE,
IT SHOULDN'T BE HEADLINE NEWS THAT THE POLICE ARE
INVESTIGATING YOU, OF COURSE THEY SHOULD.
WHAT I DON'T KNOW
IS WHY HARVEY WEINSTEIN HASN'T BEEN ARRESTED YET.
I DON'T GET
IT.
RUSSELL IS THE FIRST ONE TO GET AN INVESTIGATION AND
ACCORDING TO THE STORIES HE RICHLY DESERVES IT.
BUT HIS
MAYBE LITERAL PARTNER IN CRIME, ALLEGED PARTNER IN CRIME, BRETT
RATNER, IS ACCUSED OF DOING INCREDIBLY SIMILAR THINGS, WHERE
IS THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION?
I LITERALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND IT,
WHY ISN'T BRETT RATNER BEING INVESTIGATED?
HARVEY WEINSTEIN,
LOOK, NONE OF THIS STUFF IS ANYWHERE CLOSE TO A LINE IF YOU
BELIEVE THE ALLEGATIONS, BUT HARVEY WEINSTEIN, SOME OF THE
ALLEGATIONS BY WELL-KNOWN ACTRESSES ARE, HE WOULD
LITERALLY BARGE IN AND THEN RIP THEIR CLOTHES OFF AND RAPE THEM
WHILE THEY WERE SCREAMING.
WHY IS THIS GUY NOT ARRESTED?
>>AND FOR ANYONE WHO MIGHT THINK MAYBE SOME OF THESE WOMEN
WENT DIRECTLY TO THE NYPD ASKING FOR PROSECUTION OR AN
INVESTIGATION, THAT'S NOT THE CASE.
NOBODY WENT SPECIFICALLY
TO THE NYPD AND ASKED FOR AN INVESTIGATION OR PROSECUTION,
THE NYPD DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO HAVE SOMEONE GO RIGHTLY TO
THEM IF THEY SEE THERE IS A POTENTIAL OF TERMINAL ACTIVITY.
THEY CAN MAKE THAT DECISION, TAKE INITIATIVE THEMSELVES,
AND INVESTIGATE IT, AND THAT'S WHAT THEY CHOSE TO DO HERE.
>>TWO WOMEN HAD GONE TO THE NYPD, THEY DID AN INVESTIGATION
AND DROPPED IT EARLIER.
THEY ALSO DID ONE OF WEINSTEIN AND
DROPPED IT EARLIER, WHY DIDN'T THEY PICK THAT BACKUP?
THAT'S
ONE ISSUE.
CURIOUS WHAT YOUR TAKE IS ON IT.
>>THE RACIAL COMPONENT OF THIS WHOLE THING, AND I KNOW PEOPLE
GET TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT RACE, BUT I THINK THE RACIAL COMPONENT
IS INTERESTING.
EVEN WITH HARVEY WEINSTEIN, ALL OF THOSE WOMEN
ACCUSED HIM OF RAPE.
WHEN LUPITA DID IT, HE SAID I DIDN'T TOUCH
HER.
I'M A SEXIST AND A RAPIST BUT I'M ALSO A RACIST, LET'S NOT
GET IT TWISTED.
I'VE WORKED WITH RUSSELL SIMMONS -- I HAVE
ENCOUNTERED -- MISOGYNY EXISTS SO MUCH IN OUR BUSINESS COME AS
A COMEDIAN, HE COMES FROM THE WORLD OF HIP-HOP, WHERE MISOGYNY
IS JUST PART OF THE CULTURE, IT'S EMBEDDED IN IT, AND I THINK
THAT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THESE THINGS, RUSSELL SIMMONS SELF
ADMITTEDLY HAS SAID HE EXPERIENCED AN EVOLUTION AND NOW
HE'S IN A DIFFERENT PLACE, I DON'T KNOW IF RUSSELL SIMMONS
RAPED PEOPLE, I DON'T KNOW IF HE SEXUALLY HARASSED PEOPLE, BUT I
DO KNOW THAT HE BELONGS TO A CULTURE AND BELONGS TO A GROUP
OF PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT WOMEN ARE EXPENDABLE, THAT WOMEN ARE
DISPOSABLE, AND WOMEN ARE OBJECTS.
AND TO SPEAK TO THE
GREATER ISSUE, I WAS TALKING TO ANA OFF CAMERA, AS A STANDUP
COMEDIAN THAT'S HOW I ENCOUNTERED RUSSELL, WHAT I WAS
ONE OF TWO WOMEN COMPETING FOR ONE SPOT FOR A SHOW THAT WAS FOR
SIX PEOPLE, AND IT IS SO DISGUSTING AND IT IS SO -- IT'S
JUST A CANCER THAT HAS RUN THROUGH THE ENTIRE BUSINESS,
THAT I HAVE TO BE WORRIED ABOUT WHAT HOTEL ROOM I STAY IN, THAT
I'M NEAR THE ELEVATOR, AND NOT STAIRS, NOBODY FOLLOWS ME TO MY
ROOM, THAT OTHER COMEDIANS DON'T FOLLOW ME TO MY ROOM, YOU TALK
ABOUT LOUIS CK, RUSSELL SIMMONS, THERE IS A SEA OF MEN OUT THERE
DOING THESE THINGS THAT MANY WOMEN OF COLOR ARE AFRAID TO
SPEAK OUT AGAINST BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO LOSE THEIR
CAREERS.
SO WHEN I THINK ABOUT THESE MEN, OKAY, YOU WANT TO
COME AFTER RUSSELL SIMMONS?
YOU'VE GOT TO COME AFTER A LOT
OF PEOPLE.
RUSSELL SIMMONS IS ONE PERSON YOU ARE TALKING
ABOUT, YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT LOUIS CK, THIS SHIT IS ALL OVER
THE BUSINESS.
HIP-HOP, COMEDY, ENTERTAINMENT, POLITICS, IT'S
ALL OVER THE PLACE, AND WOMEN ARE ALWAYS DOUBTED.
FOR SOMEBODY
TO SAY I BELIEVE YOU, IT'S CONDESCENDING.
I CAN'T EVEN MAKE
A POINT BECAUSE IT'S ALL OVER.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING, AND
I THINK YOU WILL BE SURPRISED SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT YOU HEAR
THAT HAVE ENGAGED IN THIS, BECAUSE IT IS SO ACCEPTABLE.
AND
IT'S NOT JUST THE PEOPLE DOING IT, IF THE PEOPLE SEE THEM DOING
IT AND DON'T SAY ANYTHING OR TRY TO BRUSH IT UNDER THE RUG.
WITH
LOUIS CK THERE WERE ALLEGATIONS -- ROSEANNE BARR TWEETED ABOUT
IT YEARS AGO, WITH RUSSELL SIMMONS THEY SWEPT IT UNDER THE
RUG, THEN IT GOT BIGGER.
>>THERE WITH THE FIRST WAVE OF WOMEN, TWO WOMEN, WHO CAME OUT
WITH HER ACCUSATIONS AGAINST HIM, AND HE SEEMED RELATIVELY
UNSCATHED BY THAT.
THEN THIS NEW YORK TIMES PIECE PROFILING
MULTIPLE WOMEN, SEVERAL WOMEN, LED TO HIM TAKING SOME
ACTION, STEPPING AWAY FROM HIS BUSINESSES AND ALL THAT.
>>ONE THING I WANT TO SAY, THE BIGGER PROBLEM, CENK, IS THE
EDUCATION OF MEN.
MATT DAMON MADE THESE COMMENTS TODAY THAT
WERE VERY MATT DAMON LIKE, WE ALREADY KNOW HE DID IT WITH THE
RACE THING, NOW HE'S DOING IT WITH THE WOMEN.
SOMETIMES THE
EDUCATION OF WHAT SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS IS THAT SOME
PEOPLE DON'T THINK IT'S SEXUAL HARASSMENT BECAUSE THEY ARE SO
ACCUSTOMED TO BELIEVING THAT WE ARE OBJECTS, AND THAT'S A
PROBLEM UNTO ITSELF.
>>WE WILL HAVE TO SEE HOW THE LAW SETTLES THIS, OBVIOUSLY
SIMMONS IS IN A TON OF TROUBLE HERE WITH A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT
OF ALLEGATIONS.
BUT HE VEHEMENTLY DENIES IT.
I JUST
WANT EQUAL TREATMENT FOR EVERYBODY, IT'S NOT TO EXCUSE
ANYTHING SIMMONS HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF, WE SHOULD JUST SAY
YOU SHOULD ALSO HOLD THE OTHER GUYS ACCOUNTABLE.
SO IN CASES
WHERE PEOPLE NEED TO BE FIRED, THEY HAVE, IN CASE OF RUSSELL
SIMMONS HE STEPPED DOWN FROM HIS COMPANY, HE DID THAT EARLIER, IN
CASES OF ASSAULT THERE NEEDS TO BE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THE
PEOPLE CHARGED WITH IT AS LONG AS THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
HASN'T RUN.
ALSO ROY MOORE, THERE IS NO STATUTE OF
LIMITATIONS ON CHILD MOLESTATION IN ALABAMA, WE HAVE OUR PERSON
WHO MOST OF THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP IN THE COUNTRY
BELIEVES SAYING HE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ME WHEN I WAS A MINOR.
THAT GUY DOESN'T BELONG IN THE SENATE, HE BELONGS IN JAIL.
WE
KNOW HE'S NOT GOING IN THE SENATE, I'M NOT TRYING TO REHASH
THAT, I'M JUST SAYING LET'S HAVE EQUAL JUSTICE HERE.
FOR THE
WOMEN MOST OF ALL.
BRING ALL THESE GUYS TO JUSTICE, AND
JUSTICE ALSO INVOLVES OF COURSE HIM BEING ABLE TO DEFEND
HIMSELF IN COURT.