One of my first big freelance assignments was an 800-word celebration of a music mogul and visionary who I thought I’d want to grow up to be like. The article was about his accomplishments ahead of some award he would receive. And it was about how I admired his ingenuity and greatness.
The article was about Russell Simmons.
Since then, Simmons, co-founder of the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by multiple women and has been the subject of a documentary about said accusations. He’s also chosen to spend the last few years in Bali — with some speculating that he lives there to evade the legal ramifications he’d face if he stayed in America.
Since he’s taken that leave, Simmons has been openly embraced by celebrity friends despite the accusations levied against him. The Breakfast Club syndicated radio show had him as a guest, affectionately calling him Uncle Russ in 2020. Rappers Redman and Method Man featured him in their Verzuz in 2021. Actress Taraji P. Henson took smiling photos with him in Bali last year. And a new, unexpected name has been added to the list of Simmons visitors: singer-songwriter Usher.
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Every time a celebrity poses in public with Simmons, it’s more than just supporting a friend. It’s a public endorsement. Usher should know that lending his fame to Simmons is more than just a friend hanging out, it’s a public declaration that he stands beside a man whose trials will most likely only occur in the court of public opinion. For Usher, doing so at the height of his popularity and fame is more than disappointing. It’s a betrayal.
This development and our ensuing reaction to it will test our resolve in holding celebrities’ feet to the fire for their support of Simmons, and others accused of abuse, and remind us that no person, no matter how beloved, is beyond reproach in these circumstances.
Usher Raymond IV has spent the last couple of years enjoying his third or fourth career prime, cementing himself as one of the defining R&B icons of his generation. Everything from his Tiny Desk Concert performance to his Las Vegas residency, all culminating in his Super Bowl halftime performance in February, has made Usher as popular as ever. I count myself among the people who’ve been enjoying the Usher renaissance, even writing about how his act of serenading women in Las Vegas has caused insecure men and toxic masculinity to run amok. We’ve covered and celebrated Usher extensively on Andscape. Often, when you champion someone or become a superfan of that person, it’s easier to look the other way when they do something harmful. However, a celebrity’s biggest cheerleaders should be first to call them out when they so obviously fail so many people who have supported them.
Usher’s visit with Simmons is undeniably troublesome and, at the very least, deserving of all the criticism he receives for such a decision. It wasn’t just the visit, it was the public nature of the get-together, namely Simmons’ social media post celebrating the occasion.
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“When i was at the lowest point in my life i woke up and this man was sitting by my bed .. i had known usher since he was a kid but we really bonded because of our mutual love for self discovery and our belief in Yogic science as a direct route to realizing Gods conciousness in ourselves …People remember to remember this ..a friend walks in when others walk out … i will never forget the generosity of spirit i witnessed in this man God bless you baby bro @usher 🙏🏾 love you !!!!”
I know I should stop being surprised by such actions from celebrities and people I don’t know personally, but I still find myself shocked and angry at Usher’s decision. I feel the same about comedian Katt Williams, whom I also spent the first few months of the year praising for his candor on the Club Shay Shay podcast and his comedic bravery — even using him to contrast Dave Chappelle’s anti-trans version of comedy. But Williams has since betrayed that good faith by going on Joe Rogan’s podcast to discuss a bunch of asinine conspiracy theories and his own brand of anti-trans bias.
“20 years ago I knew that transgenders was going to be a thing,” Williams said as Rogan stared at him, mouth agape. “… I understood that the earliest I had seen that word transgender was from Baphomet, the transgender. I knew in the ritual of Baphomet the transgender, to show allegiance to him you had to kiss his ring.”
The rant was as nonsensical as it was dangerous: grouping trans folks in with Baphomet — largely seen as a satanic, occult figures — is as harmful as anything Chappelle has ever said. And it undoes the goodwill Williams has earned, especially of late.
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Celebrities have worked out how to combat being called out for these offenses. They deem it “cancel culture” and frame criticism as a negligible tool for people too sensitive to matter. But that’s mere gaslighting. Williams and Usher, in particular, are perpetuating harm. In Usher’s case, he’s standing alongside a powerful man accused of harming several women. For Williams, he’s espousing dangerous rhetoric about a community that experiences disproportionate violence already. And these two men are doing so at the height of their popularity when they are most influential.
It’s easy for those who believe we aren’t impacted by these decisions to ignore them. Being entertained by celebrities should never override our love of the most vulnerable among us. We can’t love a celebrity too much for our opinions to change about them. I had to change my views about Simmons, someone I admired enough to praise at the start of my career. We must be willing to change our feelings about these people when we get new information. That’s what differentiates us from blind fanatics.
Anything else is a failure on our part. Usher and Williams have made their own decisions. It’s up to us to face the truth of those decisions and refuse to ignore them.
David Dennis Jr. is a senior writer at Andscape and an American Mosaic Journalism Prize recipient. His book, The Movement Made Us, will be released in 2022. David is a graduate of Davidson College.
