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If you know anything about the new documentary On The Record, it’s that it’s about sexual assault allegations against hip hop mogul Russell Simmons and that Oprah Winfrey was once involved. Both of those things are true but that’s not the whole story.
The movie focuses on three of Simmons’ accusers (the media mogul was accused of rape by three women), but it’s also about the dilemma that many black women find themselves in, when choosing between protecting black men – who are notoriously mistreated by the law – and speaking out about sexual abuse.
Oprah was initially signed on as an executive producer for the film, but she dropped out days before its Sundance debut.
She told CBS News that she was not bowing to pressure by Simmons and that she believes the women. But her departure was devastating to Drew Dixon, the former Def Jam Records producer at the center of On The Record. She told KPCC/LAist:
“It was terrifying to go to Sundance not knowing if the people [there] would be the only people who would ever see this film, and [that] we would be misunderstood as survivors by our community because no one would ever get to see that this film was really meant to lift up black women who love black men– not to tear anyone down.”
But when asked whether or not Oprah Winfrey failed her, Dixon had this to say:
“Oprah Winfrey disappointed me but I don’t know that she was in a position to fail me, because she’s not responsible for me… I certainly would never question the obligations she has to consider when making her choices.”
Hear the full conversation with Drew Dixon and filmmaker Amy Ziering here:
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