Why did Oprah Winfrey drop her Russell Simmons documentary?

When Oprah Winfrey abruptly pulled her support from a documentary detailing sexual abuse allegations against Russell Simmons, she insisted that the decision had nothing to do with pressure from the embattled hip-hop mogul himself. A Jan. 17 interview with the New York Times stated that Winfrey “still believed” Dixon but “thought there were inconsistencies in her account.” In addition, Winfrey said that the director Ava DuVernay found the movie — titled “On the Record” — problematic, as did “someone she knew and trusted who cast doubts on Ms. Dixon’s story.” For the record: An earlier version of this post stated that Oprah Winfrey’s inner circle was concerned about “inconsistencies” in the portrayal of several of the accusers’ stories. My sorority sister, Tina Perry.’” In a statement, Perry acknowledged that she and Dixon “were friends and sorority sisters, but we haven’t spoken in decades.” Perry continued, “I was sad to learn about her horrible experience with Russell Simmons at his apartment.” The OWN executive added, “I commend Drew for her strength and courage to come forward and tell her story.” A source close to the situation confirmed that Perry advised pulling the film out of Sundance, but stressed that the executive was one of a number of people in Winfrey’s inner circle — including DuVernay and Terry Wood, executive vice president of Harpo Productions — who shared that opinion. In 2010, after a matron at Winfrey’s South African girls school was found not guilty of improperly touching teenage students, she said she was “profoundly disappointed at the outcome of the trial.” Dixon said she has never interacted with Winfrey and has not reached out to Perry since December because she didn’t want to “take the bait.” There is still much that is unclear to the film’s subjects about Winfrey’s decision to step away from the project, and Dixon reiterated that she wasn’t even sure Perry “said half of this stuff. And if the world is eventually able to see the film, Dixon said, she’ll no longer feel like she’s left “dangling from a cliff.” “I think the film is its best defense,” she said.