Drew Dixon, who spoke about her accusation of rape in opposition to Russell Simmons within the 2020 documentary “On the Record,” lashed out at Variety and its management Saturday for publishing the contents of her textual content messages with out permission.
“I stand by @OnTheRecordDoc,” the previous Def Jam government tweeted. “I’m disgusted that @Variety printed my personal textual content messages w/o my consent. I really feel violated by [executive editor Ramin Setoodeh] and [editor-in-chief Claudia Eller]. Russell Simmons is a rapist. Period. I’m grateful to @janedoefilms for giving a voice to Black survivors.”
The piece in query cited texts from Dixon that stated she felt producers of the HBO Max documentary had been “triggering” her within the closing months main as much as its premiere. Broadly, the piece centered on Jane Doe Films, which made not solely “On the Record,” however “Allen v. Farrow,” and highlighted reported unfavorable experiences of Alexia Norton Jones, who additionally accused Simmons of rape. Dixon additionally retweeted others questioning the timing of the piece and whether or not its intent was “to undermine these important filmmakers.” A consultant for Variety didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
“It breaks my coronary heart that Alexia Norton Jones was additional traumatized. My personal textual content messages had been additionally shared together with her out of context by @WalkerMarchant to create strife. It’s so upsetting. She’s a beautiful girl, who deserves nothing however pleasure. Sadly, Russell Simmons wins once more,” tweeted Dixon, who repeatedly expressed that the article was a optimistic for topics Simmons and Woody Allen on the expense of the ladies who participated.
Jane Doe Films launched a assertion on the manufacturing firm’s official Twitter account, saying partly, “For many years, we have worked extremely hard to make films that lift up the voices of sexual assault survivors in the hopes this would help them heal, raise broader social awareness around these issues, and inspire cultural change. We are very sad to hear that Ms. Norton Jones was unhappy with her experience. We have the utmost respect and gratitude to Ms. Norton Jones for being courageous enough to share her story, and we truly wish her all the best.”
The assertion went on to say that within the filmmakers’ quest to problem “powerful entrenced interests to have preyed on the less powerful,” they’ve encountered “those powerful interests and those who work for them” and located they search to undermine their movies. “We accept this as part of the challenge both we and survivors constantly face,” they stated.
Dixon, who has stated Simmons violently raped her in 1995, celebrated her participation within the movie throughout TheWrap’s Power Women Summit final December, saying that holding silent solely additional victimized her — and that talking out allowed her to reclaim elements of herself that she had buried away for thus lengthy.
“For the 22 years that I didn’t tell anyone, I thought I was liberating myself from the burden of this association. And once I said it, I realized I was actually free from that for the first time in my life,” Dixon stated. “I spent so much time trying not to be a rape victim that I actually was victimizing myself by trapping myself in this tiny little playable area of this tiny little corner of the gameboard or the desktop that was the only space that I allowed myself to operate in because I didn’t want to accidentally bleed out of my little secret cover-up for his sake, thinking it was for my sake too.”
But when she lastly went public, Dixon stated she lastly felt the liberty to be herself once more.
