Have you ever had a decades long friendship with someone and didn’t know he was racist and xenophobic? No? Me neither. But apparently Russell Simmons has.
Simmons, on the heels of his RushCard debacle, penned an open letter to his dear “friend” Donald Trump. The letter is in response to Trump’s most recent hate speech directed toward Muslims and his plans to bar them from entering the country if he wins the presidency.
Over 30 plus years you have been an amazing friend; endorsing my books, coming to my shows, flying me on your planes, your helicopters, and even allowing my family members and myself to stay in your house in Florida many times. So, it kinda pains me to know that my public statements about your candidacy have strained or ruined our friendship. However, the fact is, what’s at stake is bigger than us.
So, 30 years of friendship, and it never dawned on you, Uncle Rush, that your friend Trump was a racist jerk? How long ago did the Central Park rape occur and your “friend” Trump became the ringleader in a witch hunt against the young black men who were accused of raping a jogger?
Or wait, was it within the last 30 years that allegations of housing discrimination within Trump’s real estate holdings were playing out in lawsuits and the media?
Simmons continued:
Do you remember, not too long ago, when you made disparaging statements about the Muslim community and I put you on the phone with myself and Rabbi Schneier and we had a meeting with the Chairman of the Islamic Society of North America? You were very gracious and you even came to the Islamic Cultural Center of New York on 96th Street. At that time, you walked into that house of worship and you felt all the love vibrating in that mosque. Try to remember how sweet and enlightened my good friend, Imam Shamsi Ali was, and all of the people you met with.
Come on, Russell.
Your friend showed you his true colors, and you really thought taking him to a mosque was going to eliminate hatred that has probably been ingrained in him over a lifetime? Well, guess what? It didn’t work.
Your dear friend is a lost cause. You assume he’s smarter than he actually is. You asked him to “stop the [bulls—t]. Stop fueling fires of hate. Don’t feed into the rhetoric created by small-minded people.” But what you fail to realize is that Trump is one of those small-minded people.
Your friend is racist. And small-minded. Pick better friends.