NEW YORK •A woman is accusing rap mogul Russell Simmons of rape while a well-known photographer has quit teaching over allegations of inappropriate remarks.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed a US$10-million (S$13-million) lawsuit in Los Angeles over the weekend. It stated that she and her son met Simmons, who co-founded Def Jam Recordings, at a concert. He invited them backstage and, after dropping her son off at home, took her out for drinks.
He asked her to accompany him to his hotel room. "She was reluctant, but Simmons insisted it was not an invitation to have sexual relations since he was dating a well-known model," the complaint read.
She said he raped her in the room.
Over the past few months, Simmons had been accused of sexual misconduct, assault or rape by multiple women and is the focus of a police investigation in New York.
In January, aspiring film-maker Jennifer Jarosik filed a US$5-million lawsuit that claimed he attacked her during a 2016 visit to his home.
He stepped down from his companies in November.
Nicholas Nixon, 70, who retired from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), is perhaps best known for The Brown Sisters, a series of portraits documenting four sisters - one of whom is his wife - for 40 consecutive years.
He started taking them in 1975, the same year that he began a part-time professorship at MassArt.
Mr David Nelson, the college's president, said it had received allegations against Nixon, prompting it to start investigating whether he discriminated on the basis of gender.
In a statement reported by The Boston Globe, Nixon's lawyer indicated that the college is investigating allegations that he made inappropriate comments to students and staff members.
"Nick has been widely known for a provocative teaching style in a creative art school environment that he believed was inspiring to his students," the statement pointed out. "This investigation - which has not even begun yet - is to determine whether or not Nick made inappropriate comments in the classroom."
NYTIMES
