Russell Simmons Apologizes for Harriet Tubman Sex Tape

Because apparently slavery is funny now?

By Jamilah King Aug 15, 2013

UPDATE 10:44 am EST: We’ve removed the video. It’s truly disgusting. 

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Yes, you read that headline correctly. Someone in Russell Simmons’s camp thought it would be a good idea to release a Harriet Tubman sex tape parody. Predictably, not many people thought it was funny. Shocked and outraged viewers, including the NAACP, thought the video was a desecration of the legendary abolitionist’s legacy, according to the Kansas City Star.

On Thursday, Simmons issued a lengthy apology on his GlobalGrind.com, writing:

In the whole history of Def Comedy Jam, I’ve never taken down a controversial comedian," he wrote. "When my buddies from the NAACP called and asked me to take down the Harriet Tubman video from the All Def Digital YouTube channel and apologize, I agreed.

"I’m a very liberal person with thick skin and it’s hard to offend me. 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 Harriet Tubman outwitting the slave master, I thought it was politically correct. Silly me."