Though he has put in many years of hard work on behalf of African-Americans, it appears that business mogul Russell Simmons crossed the line when he posted a video on his new YouTube channel that mocks African-American icon Harriet Tubman by showing her having sex with her master to blackmail him.
After tweeting that it was “the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” Simmons was on the receiving end of an epic wave of condemnation across social media.
“I don’t find anything, at all, amusing about the rape of black women or the debasement of a respected American icon,” writer Demetria Lucas wrote on TheGrio.com. “And given the collective outrage when Lil Wayne rapped of his desire to ‘beat that pu**y up like Emmett Till, how did no one veto this idea? Rape isn’t a joke. Slavery isn’t a joke. Harriet Tubman and her sacrifices for black people are not a joke. And to selfishly mock the subjugation of black people, the rape of black women and a revered American heroine in exchange for Internet clicks and ad dollars is abhorrent. And unconscionable. And sick. And just plain trifling.”
“I’m a very liberal person with thick skin,” wrote Simmons. “My first impression of the Harriet Tubman piece was that it was about what one of actors said in the video, that 162 years later, there’s still tremendous injustice. And with Harriet Tubman outwitting the slave master? I thought it was politically correct. Silly me. I can now understand why so many people are upset. I have taken down the video. Lastly, I would never condone violence against women in any form and for all of those I offended, I am sincerely sorry.”
In the video, we see the actor playing Harriet Tubman (Shanna Malcolm) planning the plot with another slave (coonishly played by DeStorm Power), who then hides in the closet with a video camera while Tubman seduces her white master (Jason Horton).
“Oh, Massa, all these years I’ve been acting like I didn’t enjoy our special time together,” Tubman says, alluding to previous rapes. “But tonight, that’s all going to be different.”
The slave in the closet encourages Tubman to “drop it like a hot comb” as she bends over while the master gives it to her from behind. After they are done, when Tubman threatens to tell her enslaver’s wife about their “affair” and he says no one will believe her, Tubman looks at the camera and then tells him to “get to work on that railroad, white ni**a.”
Definitely not funny.
This is the same man, Simmons, who just wrote a brilliant open letter to Don Lemon, the CNN anchor, explaining why his comments to black youth to pull up their pants was wrongheaded.
“I understand personal responsibility far too well, but you can’t ask them to pull up their pants and then stand idle as they fear getting shot in the heart by wannabe cops while walking home to watch basketball games,” Simmons wrote.
Watch the video below and decide for yourself: Funny or not?
