On the same day that the New York City Police Department initiated an investigation into seven allegations of rape lodged against Russell Simmons, another woman has come forward to say that he attempted to rape her, too, more than 25 years ago.
Kelly Cutrone—the founder of the public relations company People’s Revolution, who appeared on MTV’s The Hills and the Tyra Banks creation America’s Next Top Model—told the New York Post’s Page Six on Thursday that she became infuriated when she learned that Simmons was trying to start a #NotMe movement to deny the rape allegations against him, and that made her come forward with her own story.
“The #NotMe thing? I’m going to do a #YeahYou, fuck you,” Cutrone said.
Including Cutrone, 12 women in the last 30 days have come forward to accuse Simmons of either rape or sexual misconduct. After the first two allegations made news, Simmons announced that he was stepping down from his companies. Cutrone believes that stepping down from his companies is the easiest thing for Simmons to do.
“All these guys [who have been accused of rape, including Simmons and Harvey Weinstein] have been doing is, like, go, like, ‘Hey, I’m really, really sorry and I’m going to step away from my business,’” Cutrone told Page Six. “But you know what? A lot of these women have to go to work every day because they have to pay bills and they haven’t made $100 million.
“I hope he chokes on his om pendant,” she added.
Cutrone was 26 in 1991 when, she says, Simmons’ attempted rape of her occurred. He was a casual acquaintance when she ran into him at a party. She says they walked together to a second party, and Simmons asked her to go with him to his apartment. When she declined, he then told her he needed to go by a friend’s house.
Cutrone said that she thinks he instead led her to his own apartment.
“He pushed me into his apartment and then he threw me down on the floor and literally tried to grab … take my clothes off of me,” Cutrone told Page Six. “And I started kicking him really, really hard, screaming, telling him to get the fuck off of me. And that I would have him killed if he ever fucking laid a hand on me.
“I actually think I told him I would call Page Six! I was a publicist! I think I told him I would call Page Six and have him murdered,” she added.
Cutrone said she ran out of the apartment and got into a cab.
She said that years after the incident happened, she would be at social events, and Simmons would come up to the table. People would attempt to introduce the two and say, “Kelly, do you know Russell?”
“I’d be like, ‘Yes, I know Russell—he tried to rape me.’”