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Russell Simmons is suing HBO for defamation over a 2020 documentary focused on the sexual assault allegations against him, claiming the film disregarded evidence in his favor — including “CIA-grade polygraph results” and Oprah Winfrey’s withdrawal from the project.
In a complaint filed Tuesday (June 3) in Manhattan court, attorneys for Simmons say the movie On The Record defamed him by ignoring key information — including from over 20 witnesses — that would have “refuted and rebutted” the allegations that were “falsely made against plaintiff in the film.”
“The evidence and information were made available to defendants, including then CEO of WarnerMedia John Stankey, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, Casey Bloys,” the star’s lawyers write. “However, the Defendants disregarded and/or suppressed said materials.”
Spokespeople for HBO and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday (June 4).
Simmons, who founded Def Jam Recordings in 1984 and later built a formidable hip-hop empire, has faced a slew of abuse allegations since 2017 — first in an investigative article by the New York Times, then in the HBO doc. The film, directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, centered on claims made by Drew Dixon, a former A&R at Def Jam who says Simmons raped her, but also featured interviews with several other alleged victims.
In his complaint, Simmons says he provided HBO and the filmmakers with ample evidence that was “supportive and favorable” to him and would have countered those allegations. And he says the network was urged to consider that info by “luminaries in media and politics,” including “civil rights leaders and members of Congress.”
Simmons says the favorable evidence included “nine consecutive credible and favorable CIA-grade polygraph results” — presumably tests taken by him about the accusations. He also says HBO ignored the fact that Winfrey, the movie’s original executive producer, had withdrawn her support after “publicly noting inconsistencies in the accusations.”
“Defendants willfully, and/or recklessly, disregarded and suppressed said information and evidence, and published, and continue to republish defamatory content,” attorneys for Simmons wrote.
The lawsuit could face procedural challenges. The statute of limitations for libel lawsuits in New York is one year, a limit that has clearly lapsed for a movie released in 2020. Simmons’ lawyers will likely argue that he has continued to be defamed by new re-issues of the documentary, particularly in foreign markets.
The new case is a role reversal for Simmons, who has already been on the receiving end of a defamation lawsuit from Dixon over claims that he defamed her by suggesting during a podcast interview that she was lying about her allegations. He’s also facing a sexual assault lawsuit from another unnamed alleged victim.
Young Thug and Mariah The Scientist have been going strong for four years — even remaining together through Thugger’s two-plus-year incarceration — but their relationship may have never gotten off the ground if the YSL rapper didn’t remain persistent. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Thug and Mariah […]
BE:FIRST’s “GRIT” blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released June 4.
The CD version of the track went on sale on May 28, two days after being dropped digitally. The song launched with 105,783 copies to hit No. 2 for sales, while dominating downloads, radio airplay, video views and coming in at No. 4 for streaming.
“Muchu” by the boy band also jumped 15-8 to break into the top 10. It’s a track off the group’s ”GRIT” single and was digitally released ahead of the title track on Apr. 25. It topped downloads on the chart released Apr. 30 and debuted on the Japan Hot 100 at No. 13. This week, the release of the CD version fueled the track and downloads gained 180% compared to the week before, while streaming is up 102%, and video up 135%.
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Hey! Say! JUMP’s “encore” bows at No. 2. The eight-member boy band’s 35th single is being featured as the theme song for the drama series starring member Keii Inoo. The track rules sales with 213,556 copies sold in its first week, while hitting No. 16 for downloads, No. 63 for streaming, No. 23 for radio and No. 21 for video.
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “KUSUSHIKI” rises a notch to No. 3. Streams, downloads, and karaoke for the track gained this week, possibly powered by the new YouTube Premium commercial featuring the song, released May 28.
At No.4 is the title track of OCTPATH’s seventh single, “Mata Natsu ni Kaerou” (Let’s go back to summer again). The track written by RYOJI from Ketsumeishi sold 75,111 copies in its first week to hit No. 3 for sales.
HANA’s “ROSE” is up a position to No. 5. Karaoke and radio for the new girl group’s debut single gained 106% and 110%, respectively. HANA made headlines recently when awarded the Best New Artist (Singer) award at the ASIA STAR ENTERTAINER AWARDS 2025 Presented by ZOZOTOWN.
In other chart moves, CANDY TUNE’s “BAIBAI FIGHT!” soars 62-19. The song was released in April 2024, but the seven-member ASOBISYSTEM girl group performed it on YouTube’s THE FIRST TAKE (May 23) and also at the KAWAII LAB. SESSION Vol.14 in Makuhari event on May 25. Streams are up 148% compared to last week and video soared 317%, placing the song in the top 20 for the first time.
The second half of the year begins this week for Billboard Japan’s charts, and recurrent rules have been implemented on the Japan Hot 100 and Hot Albums tallies. The Streaming Songs chart is exempt from the recurrent criteria, and will be calculated in the same way as it has been up to the 2025 mid-year list.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from May 26 to June 1, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
Vic Mensa has shared his thoughts on being an artist in the streaming era, and spoke about the heavy emotional toll it can take on a rapper. On Tuesday (June 3), the Chicago rapper hopped on social media and recalled an emotional breakdown he had in the shower after thinking deeply about the intense public […]
SZA’s SOS sails into uncharted waters on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart by becoming the longest-running No. 1 title in the chart’s 60-year history. The juggernaut earns the achievement with a 38th nonconsecutive week at No. 1, on the chart dated June 7, breaking its tie with Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which set the previous record of 37 weeks in 1983-84.
The new title-holder attains its historic week with 47,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the tracking week of May 23-29, according to Luminate, a 2% increase from the prior week. In total, SOS has spent 129 weeks on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and has never fallen outside the top 10.
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SOS, SZA’s sophomore studio album, was released in December 2022 as the long-awaited follow up to the singer-songwriter’s acclaimed debut LP, 2017’s Ctrl. The set opened at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and sparked hit singles such as “Kill Bill,” which spent a then-record 21 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and “Snooze,” which spent 13 weeks at No. 2 on the chart. The album received a second wind in December 2024 with its deluxe LANA edition’s release that added more than a dozen songs to the track list, including hits “Saturn” and “30 for 30.”
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As SOS rewrites the record books, here’s an updated look at the albums with the most weeks at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums since the chart launched in 1965.
Most Weeks at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart38, SOS, SZA, 2022-2537, Thriller, Michael Jackson, 1983-8429, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, M.C. Hammer, 199026, Just Like the First Time, Freddie Jackson, 1986-8723, Can’t Slow Down, Lionel Richie, 1983-8420, Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder, 1976-7720, Street Songs, Rick James, 198120, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon, Pop Smoke, 2020-2119, Purple Rain, Prince and The Revolution, 198418, The Temptations Sing Smokey, The Temptations, 196518, Bad, Michael Jackson, 1987-88
Since a methodology change to Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in February 2017 added streaming and individual track sales into the chart’s calculations, albums tend to spend much longer on the list due to consistent streaming activity. Prior to the switch, the chart’s ranks were based solely on traditional album sales. A growing shift toward longer track lists, too, has helped many popular albums retain strong chart positions as multiple popular songs from an album have provided a foundation for steady streaming numbers.
Due to the shifts, several longevity milestones have been rewritten in recent years. In addition to holding the No. 1 record for decades, Thriller also had the most weeks in the top 10 of Top R&B/Hop-Hop Albums, at 76 frames in 1983-84. While no album matched that total for over 30 years, six albums have now passed Thriller’s top 10-week count, all of which were released in 2012 or later.
Elsewhere on Billboard’s charts, SOS captures a 112th week at No. 1 on Top R&B Albums, far and away the longest leader on the 12-year-old list. On the all-genre Billboard 200, SOS ranks at No. 2, after having ruled the chart for 12 nonconsecutive weeks since its No. 1 arrival in 2022.
Instagram / Antoine Massey
New Orleans law enforcement was forced to scramble when Antoine Massey, one of the men who escaped from a New Orleans jail, posted a video on social media.
In the now-deleted video, Massey argued that he was not the mastermind behind the now-infamous jail break that has been the talk of the internet.
Local news affiliate Nola.com reports that Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair and another law enforcement source confirmed they are investigating the video that appeared on Instagram on Sunday.
The news out shared a transcript of what Massey said during the clip.
Per Nola.com:
“They say that I broke out. I didn’t break out. I was let out,” said the man on the video, who identified himself as Massey and wore the same facial tattoos. The video was deleted late Monday afternoon once news outlets began reporting on its contents.
The man later said that he left the jail because he was being charged for a crime he didn’t commit.
“The reason why I left the jail is because these people were trying to give me a life sentence in both parishes for something that I did not do,” the man said.
The 32-year-old fugitive is one of 10 individuals who escaped the Orleans Justice Center in May. Eight of them have been captured while Massey and Derrick Groves, 27, have avoided capture.
Massey was jailed back in March for motor vehicle theft and domestic abuse battery involving strangulation. St. Tammany Parish authorities also want him for suspicion of kidnapping and rape.
Antoine Massey Has A Very Long Rap Sheet
While Massey claims to be innocent of his current charges, his rap sheet tells a different story, with crimes dating back to 2009.
He has multiple violent felony convictions of armed robbery, aggravated flight from an officer, and felon while in possession of a firearm. He was also sentenced on charges of theft, simple criminal damage to property, and charged twice with tampering with electronic monitoring equipment.
His latest jailbreak isn’t his first; it’s his fifth, so that makes him somewhat of an expert in breaking out of jail. We shall see how long Massey will continue to evade capture.
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“My mother always wanted me to be a doctor,” Barry Manilow quipped on stage Tuesday (June 3) night at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. “She would be so proud!”
Manilow indeed became a doctor during his Detroit tour stop, when six cap-and-gowned faculty members from Chicago’s VanderCook College of Music (the only U.S. school that specializes in teaching music educators) presented him with an honorary Doctor of Music Education honoris causa. The honorary degree, according to VanderCook President Kimberly Farris, recognized “your enduring dedication to music education,” which, she added, “resonates deeply with our mission.” The degree specifically saluted the Manilow Music Project, which he says has spent $10 million during the past 15 years providing musical instruments to schools and honoring music educators. On Tuesday, Manilow presented a $10,000 grant to a teacher from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School.
Donning his own cap and gown and accepting the degree, Manilow explained that “the VanderCook College stands for everything I believe in. Their commitment to music teachers and my passion for getting playable instruments for young people go hand in hand. That’s why it really speaks to me.” He gave special thanks to his drummer, Yolandus “YL” Douglas, for spearheading the honor.
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“This is such a meaningful honor,” Manilow continued. “I’ve gotten awards before — Emmys, Grammys, People’s Choice Awards. Most of them were always honoring me as a singer, songwriter and performer, and they were always great. I’m always so grateful for them. But this is the first time that anybody has acknowledged me as being a musician, so thank you all…I’ll never forget this.” Manilow then tossed his mortarboard into the crowd as his band played “Pomp and Circumstance.”
The show was part of the 81-year-old Manilow’s continuing The Last Concerts series he’s playing in “these cities that have been so supportive” during his 52-year recording career. Prior to the Detroit stop he told Billboard that the endeavor has put him in a reflective space. “It’s like, ‘What? Am I the only one left?’” he says. “It’s Billy Joel, and Elton (John) is not well and Rod (Stewart) and Neil (Diamond). Diana Ross is still in great shape I think. There must be only a handful of people in my world that are still there. I’m still healthy. I’m strong and I’ve still got my voice and my energy. The night I can’t hit the F natural on ‘Even Now,’ that’s the night I throw in the towel. But I can still do it.”
Though he “never got to know” Joel, Manilow adds that he wishes that Piano Man well in his struggle with the brain disorder Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) that has taken him off the road. “Oh, it’s so horrible, so horrible,” Manilow says. “It just broke my heart when I heard about Billy Joel. I’m such a fan of his work. I really hope he’s able to get back to it.”
Manilow’s work, meanwhile, isn’t just onstage these days. By the end of the summer Manilow hopes to release a new album, his first since Night Songs II in 2020. “This’ll probably be my last album,” he notes, adding that, “I’ve been working on it for a long time…for so long that the style of music has changed. [laughs] I had to go back and redo (the songs) so they sounded a little more contemporary. I had to take all the strings out, all the background vocals out ‘cause they don’t do that anymore. They don’t use strings and background vocals and all that. Even I heard that it sounded dated, so we had to go back and redo it.”
The result, he says, is “a Barry pop album. I think people who like what I do will like this album; I don’t know about everybody else who likes today’s music, but it’s a solid album.” Manilow adds that he’s not trying to compete with the current crop of chart toppers and Grammy winners.
“The songwriting has changed,” he notes. “Young people don’t write the way I was trained to write. There’s no verse which goes into the chorus which goes back to the verse which goes to ending, and you change keys. They don’t do that. They start the song and then they just…it feels like a run-on sentence to me. I can’t find the hook. I can’t find the chorus. It just keeps on going, and then it ends. That’s not what this album is, and that’s not the way I know how to write, and I think my contemporary songwriters and people I work with would say the same.”
This year, in fact, marks 50 years since Manilow scored his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit, “Mandy,” while January will mark 50 years since his second No. 1, “I Write the Songs,” which was penned by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. Both were recommended to him by Arista Records then-chief Clive Davis, and Manilow laughs as he recalls their professional relationship. “Every time Clive gave me an idea I would turn it down — every single time I would turn it down.” His objection to that one, in particular, was pointed: “I can’t sing a song where it says, ‘I write the songs’; people will think I’m this egomaniac. I won’t do it! Same thing with any of the other ones. I turned them all down. But Davis was relentless; ‘You’ve got to try it. You’ve got to try it!’ So I would put my arranger hat on and crawl into these songs and figure out how I can do these songs so I can be proud of it.”
“I Write the Songs,” of course, remains cemented into Manilow’s setlists, including his “lifetime” residency at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, which resumes on June 12. There’s no end date in sight, he insists, but having already done a One Last Time! tour back in 2015 Manilow insists that he’s not kidding about each stop being the final performance in each city.
“It’s a bittersweet experience for me because I know that I’m not coming back here and (the fans) know I’m not coming back here. And when I finish and I say ‘goodbye’ it is goodbye,” he says. “I’ve never felt that before. Usually I know that (on) the next tour, I’ll probably come back here. But this time I know I’m not coming back to these cities. I’ve been doing this for so many years, and I’ve done these cities over and over and over, but this is it.”
Sharay “Pun” Hayes, an author and exotic male dancer, recently took the stand in the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking and racketeering trial. In a new interview with Cam’Ron, Hayes shared that for a full year, he didn’t know he was engaging in so-called “freak-offs” with Diddy and then-girlfriend Cassie.
Hayes joined Cam’Ron’s Talk With Flee program to discuss his past encounters with Diddy, including joining the beleaguered mogul and his former girlfriend as a third sexual partner in paid, scheduled meetups.
The interview opens with Cam’Ron and Hayes reminiscing on their Harlem upbringing and playing basketball during high school, although the pair weren’t directly familiar with one another. The conversation then steered into how Hayes got into exotic dancing and how he first made contact with Combs and Ventura.
“They just called up like they was just hiring [for] a regular party”, Hayes began, adding that Ventura gave him a fake name to book the session. He added that Ventura stated to him that her husband, presumably referring to Combs, was endorsing her to hire a dancer for a birthday party and was paid just $200 at the time.
What was striking about Hayes’ account is that as he was booked for subsequent performances and shared, as he did from the witness stand, that Diddy and Cassie masked their identity, but that he discovered who they were by accident after a hotel TV displayed Combs’ full name. With the disguise seemingly busted, Hayes said that Combs ditched the veils.
Cam’Ron bluntly asked Hayes how sex was with Ventura, but he explained that it was difficult for him to get into the mix with Combs in the room and directing the scene as it were.
“Bro, I’m a be honest with you man, I couldn’t get there,” Hayes shared, trying not to delve too much despite Cam’Ron’s urging to be explicit. “Like I got a dude pacing back and forth, beating his joint. “My peripherals, my Spidey-senses is wilding, especially when I found out it was Puff. When I found it was Puff, it got all the way worse because if you grew up in Harlem, if you grew up in that era, I can’t validate it, but everybody knows there’s rumors, right, that he could be interested in dudes.”
Hop to the 22:05 mark of the video below to hear Sharay “Pun” Hayes detail his time as a hired sex worker for Diddy’s “freak-offs” below.
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Photo: Screenshot / Youtube
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Fans of former MSNBC anchor Joy Reid were dismayed when her show, The ReidOut, was canceled by the network in February. But Reid spoke out about what she had to deal with from “horrified” network heads, including their attempts to prevent her from using social media. “Anytime I would tweet anything, I would get calls—I would get, ‘Please get off Twitter, we hate it,’” she said during an episode of her Substack show Joy’s House.“They just don’t like that it pulls their talent and their reporters out of their control because now you’re not running what you’re tweeting through Standards and Practices,” Reid said to former NBC anchor Katie Couric, who joined her for the episode. “It’s giving your personality directly to the audience, which they don’t like because it’s no longer managed and curated by them.”
https://x.com/MikeSington/status/1929875323191283945Couric asked Reid, “So what exactly happened at MSNBC?” Reid began by stating that it was a question she’s been asked a lot, before saying: “People think that I’m just saying it to B.S., but I’m being honest with you—I don’t know. Literally, Katie, my show, The ReidOut, my wonderful team and I, we won an NAACP Image Award in late January, and within less than a month from that, they canceled our show.”Executives at MSNBC claimed that TheReidOut, which aired at 7 p.m. EST on weeknights, was canceled as part of a network-wide makeover. Fans felt that it was another move influenced by the election of President Donald Trump to a second term last November. It has since been replaced with The Weeknight, a panel discussion show hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Melendez. The show’s first month ratings were strong as it finished No. 1 in the demographic of adults aged 25 to 54, according to Adweek but still was far behind Fox News as it took second overall outpacing CNN.
Meanwhile, Reid is set to launch The JoyReid Show on June 9 on YouTube. The show is slated to air episodes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Newark Mayor and New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka and comedian Amber Ruffin will be the first guests on the show.
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As more people take the stand and testify against Diddy in his sex trafficking trial, any hopes of him seeing the light of day dims that much more as stories and memories of his obscene behavior continue to paint a picture of a man who had no regard for human decency, allegedly.
Now, People has shared an exclusive interview with a former male escort who was hired by Diddy to partake in his infamous “Freak Offs” during its heyday. Not only does he admit to sleeping with Cassie at the “soirees,” but he even had a message for Diddy’s ex-girlfriend who he called “uplifting” and “the kindest and most respectful person.”
Shawn Dearing says he was one of more than 10 male escorts that Diddy hired to have sex with his then girlfriend, Cassie, during his Freak Offs and explained to People that the only reason he’s talking now is because he was already outted during the trial with his picture and alias becoming part of the proceedings when Cassie testified on May 14. Dearing was one of the many male escorts that Diddy hired over the years.
People reports:
“I never wanted to open my mouth,” he says. “I don’t seek attention. I don’t want to go out there and make it seem like I’m trying to get my name known off of this experience.”
When discussing Ventura, he says, “You got me tearing up! I want what’s best for her, honestly, because she … she’s a badass lady, man. She’s awesome. So I want her respect first and foremost.”
Admitting that though Diddy was in the room with him and Cassie every time they hooked up, Dearing aka Skyler stated that Diddy himself never “touched” him and only directed what he wanted to see the two engage in sexually. He also said he never witnessed Diddy physically abuse Cassie but felt that the interactions themselves were a form of mistreatment.
Ventura’s “kindness” was “being abused in [an] improper manner,” Dearing claims.
“She was there under his control, and there was that knowing and understanding that if she didn’t do what he said — I don’t know what the consequences could have been, but I could tell there was that constant energy of knowing that we must perform for him or else,” he felt.
Dearing also remembered that Cassie wasn’t allowed to speak unless Diddy was in the room with them and it got to the point where he once asked her a question after Diddy left the room to which she responded, “No, no, no. Not until he gets back.”
Yeah, Diddy might have to swallow whatever’s left of his pride, open his wallet and beg Donald Trump for a presidential pardon because it’s looking like he’s about to be held accountable for his crimes in a court of law.
What do y’all think about Shawn Dearing’s story about Diddy and Cassie? Let us know in the comments section below.
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