Russell Simmons is apologizing for the incredibly degrading and disrespectful Harriet Tubman sex tape that sent women everywhere into a frenzy of outrage. Simmons claims that black women have “educated” him on why the video was so offensive and what types of age-old stereotypes it perpetuated.
What was supposed to be nothing more than a joke, turned terribly awry for the New York native and rightfully so.
Russell decided to share a video on Twitter that he believed was hilarious, but after he started receiving angry feedback he realized he crossed the line.
The video was posted on his very own YouTube channel and depicts an actress taking on the role of Harriet Tubman as she seduces and manipulates her slave master.
Harriet Tubman was a courageous abolitionist who escaped slavery and returned to lead hundreds of enslaved people to freedom though the Underground Railroad. During a time period when African-American women were continually raped and treated as sexual tools, it’s obvious why the video is so outrageously offensive.
Despite the ugly history of slavery, Simmons admitted that he was actually surprised at the video’s negative feedback.
Simmons sat down with Cynthia LuCiette, the host of the YouTube show BRKDWN, and shared how much the backlash broke his heart. He said black women had to educate him on why exactly the video was so offensive in the first place.
“When I got the call and found out black women were so disgusted by it, it broke my heart,” he said. “I’m sure I’m gonna piss off everybody again tomorrow. I got s**t that’s gonna piss people off…. but it’s not likely it’ll break my heart and make me react as quickly.”
In other words, he doesn’t feel that anyone can get under his skin the way African-American women can.
“This is about black women – and they can push me around a little quicker than the rest of the entire world,” he added. “And they didn’t push me around. They educated me on how hurtful it was because I never considered rape. I just saw her seduce, take advantage of and turn the tables on the slave master. That’s what I saw.”
Of course, not everybody else saw it that way.
What everyone else saw was someone trying to make light of a seriously dark time in history while also supporting the stereotype that black women are nothing more than sexually deviant Jezebels.
After the sea of backlash flooded in, Russell took to Twitter again to announce that the video had been removed.
“I get it and I respect it,” he tweeted. “The Harriet Tubman video has been removed.”
Needless to say the damage was already done and it’s hard for any black woman to just turn her cheek to the hyper-sexualization of a black female hero and revolutionary.
