Don't Let Diddy's Drama Distract You: Russell Simmons Is About to Get His Day in Court, Too

Move over Diddy, yet another hip-hop mogul is about to join you in the news cycle for his alleged dastardly deeds and that mogul is none other than Russell Simmons.

On Monday, it was revealed that he was finally served in Bali with papers related to a defamation lawsuit filed by famed and acclaimed writer, producer and activist Drew Dixon. As previously reported by The Root, in February, she filed the suit in New York’s state Supreme Court that alleged Simmons enacted a “concerted and malicious campaign to discredit her” previous allegations of sexual assault and rape at the hands of Simmons that were made public back in 2017. She specifically cited a myriad of comments he made in his interview with Graham Bensinger in Dec. 2023. She is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages for malicious conduct. Simmons has denied any and all wrongdoing.

Yet and still, his denial did not keep him from getting served at the Gdas Bali Health And Wellness Resort that he both founded and was currently staying. According to reports, the process server Daniel John Ayoub waited around in the restaurant area of the resort to see if Simmons would eventually make his way down there. After a while and a presumed no-show, Ayoub was getting ready to leave—until the music mogul walked in. After Simmons was seated with group of people, the process server proceeded to give him his papers.

“I said ‘Excuse me, Mr. Simmons, sorry to interrupt your meeting.’ I then handed Simmons the service documents in an envelope and said, ‘This is for you,’” Ayoub said, per All Hip-Hop. After Simmons questioned where the envelope was from, the process server informed him that he was being served from the state of New York. Simmons response?

‘Ah fuck, shit,’” per Ayoub.

This development comes just as the news about Diddy’s multiple home raids in connection to a possible federeal sex trafficking investigation continue to take the internet, fans, and the larger hip-hop community by storm.