Taraji P. Henson is used to her name being in the news cycle, but I doubt she expected to garner a myriad of mixed reactions from folks online thanks to her friend: Russell Simmons. I’ll explain.
On Monday, Simmons posted a photo of the two of them in Bali to his Instagram thanking her for their friendship and encouraging her to keep inspiring others.
“People when you have friends like this, you are truly blessed!!!! Everyone comes to Gdas for healing, some people exude healing energy. You are one of those,” Simmons captioned. “You make everyone happy just with your presence. Love you baby girl, you are back home safe now and are already missed. Until we meet again darling, only love. PS, you mean so much to so many people, keep inspiring us all.”
While the photo was from a time past—likely earlier this year as Simmons made it clear she was “back home safe” and Henson was just spotted in at Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival three days ago—it was enough to put folks online in a frenzy.
For context, back in March, Simmons was finally served papers in relation to 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.
“Taraji is so questionable to me,” wrote one user in the comments section of The Shaderoom.
Said another, “Russel said he ain’t never coming back to the US y’all can visit him in his hut.” [sic]
Another user questioned why “The Color Purple” star would be allowed to be photographed publicly with Simmons, writing: “Why did her publicist let her take pics with him? She should only be giving private support to him.”
“The amount of support this man gets even though he guilty asf [read: as fuck] baffles me,” said another user.
This isn’t the first time she’s been spotted with Simmons, the two also posed for pics years prior. Henson also isn’t the only celeb to head out that way either, previous visitors also include Usher, Snoop Dogg’s son Cordell Broadus, LisaRaye McCoy and MC Lyte.