Russell Simmons Wants War With HBO In $100M Over Suppressed Evidence

March 29, 2026

Russell Simmons is demanding $100 million from HBO, claiming the network buried evidence that would’ve cleared him.

Russell Simmons just escalated his legal war with HBO by filing an amended lawsuit in Manhattan that demands the network pay him $100 million for what he’s calling a deliberate campaign to destroy his reputation.

The Def Jam co-founder claims that HBO and the filmmakers behind the 2020 documentary “On the Record” willfully suppressed evidence that would’ve cleared him, including nine consecutive CIA-grade polygraph results that lasted three hours each.

According to the lawsuit, executives at HBO and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, received warnings from Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights leaders, and members of Congress that the documentary was flawed, but they ignored them and released the film anyway.

The core of Simmons’ argument centers on what he says is a mountain of exculpatory evidence that never made it into the final cut.

His legal team claims the filmmakers received over 20 witness statements and interviews that supported his version of events, yet chose to bury them.

Simmons’ attorneys argue that HBO “simply disregarded” the voluminous support for their client and instead released a film that “tremendously disparaged and damaged Mr. Simmons with salacious and defamatory accusations that he vehemently denies.”

The documentary featured women accusing him of sexual misconduct, but Simmons maintains the network cherry-picked allegations while ignoring contradictory evidence.

What makes this case particularly complicated is that Oprah Winfrey was originally an executive producer on the project but publicly withdrew after noting inconsistencies in the accusations.

Simmons had directly confronted Oprah on social media in 2019, and she later claimed he pressured her to leave. Yet her departure itself suggests there were credibility issues with the documentary’s narrative that HBO chose to overlook.

The network has consistently denied Simmons’ allegations, stating that it “stand by the filmmakers and their process” and will “vigorously defend” itself against what it calls “unfounded allegations.”

The timing of this amended lawsuit is particularly brutal for Simmons because three of his accusers just filed court documents seeking over $3.4 million in unpaid settlements that he agreed to pay in October 2025.

Sheri Abernathy, Sil Lai Abrams, and Wendy Carolina Franco claim Simmons missed a January 1 deadline to pay the agreed-upon amounts, and they’re now requesting increased damages with interest and legal fees added on top.

The recalculated amounts now total over $3.9 million when interest is factored in.

The documentary’s re-release on streaming platforms is what Simmons’ legal team is using to argue the statute of limitations hasn’t expired on his defamation claims, since the film continues to circulate globally and damage his reputation.

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