Russell Simmons has been attempting to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street movement for quite some time now, even though not everyone wants him to be there (he has been asked to leave countless times—see below video). Yet he returns to show his face, push his Rush Card debit card, make a few statements to the cameras, and get his photo taken. Recently, he even pat his pal Jay-Z on the back for introducing an "Occupy All Streets" t-shirt to the Rocawear clothing line. Thing is, Rocawear is profiting from the sales, and not giving a dime to the protesters (so far, that fact hasn't changed). Now Billboard magazine has published an interview with Simmons, after tossing him some softballs last week. When asked about the t-shirt, Simmons says: more ›

Jay-Z just couldn't stop with merely flogging the Occupy Wall Street zeitgeist by wearing a t-shirt: remember, he's not a businessman, he's a mmmm—Budweiser Select! Haters gonna hate, and man people really hated the fact that he was selling those "Occupy All Streets" t-shirts for $22 without contributing a cent to the movement. But AnimalNY noticed that the shirts have mysteriously disappeared from Rocawear's website. more ›

Yesterday, Zuccotti Park was graced with the presence of diamond-Jesus-wearing rapper Kanye West, who traveled to the park with Russell Simmons to support the Occupy Wall Street movement the only way he knows how: by doing and saying absolutely nothing. "Kanye has been a big supporter spiritually of this movement, and he's just here to stand with the people," Simmons says, hilariously suggesting that Kanye West still has a soul. more ›

Russell Simmons redefines jack-of-all-trades: he grew up in a rough part of Queens, co-founded hip-hop megalabel Def Jam, and then moved on to clothing (ever heard of Phat Farm?). This is all before he became the third richest figure in all of hip-hop, had an incredibly public marriage with Kimora Lee Simmons (who has an incredible closet of clothing), called Courtney Love a "crackhead" and became an outspoken advocate of domestic and international human rights, veganism, and yoga. He's written books, has his own reality show (who doesn't, but still) called "Running Russell Simmons," and now he's being honored with an Excellence in Media Award from GLAAD right here in New York on March 19th. We talked to him before that announcement was made, but he did discuss his love of yoga, veganism, and his thoughts on Kanye West. more ›

Dear Universe and Television Industry: Please put Courtney Love and Russell Simmons on a reality television show together, to run 24/7, in perpetuity. Because... more ›

Courtney Love—who may or may not have negotiated a real estate deal to buy Milla Jovovich's West Village townhouse via Twitter—is still taking heat for her X-rated Twittering. Earlier this month Love posted a photo of herself practically nude, and when asked about it this week, her pal Russell Simmons told the NY Post: more ›

Russell Simmons is a real Renaissance man: he was the co-founder of the Def Jam label, he's tried to clean up rap lyrics, and he's mentored Ashley Dupre. And now he's literallyunveiled a message of peaceful coexistence to opponents of the planned mosque and community center, by hanging a giant "coexist" banner in the windows of his apartment. more ›

Investigators researching the controversial selection of a politically-connected casino operator to run slot machines at the Aqueduct Racetrack are expected to subpoena Jay Z, Russell Simmons, and influential reverend and former Congressman Floyd Flake. According to the Post, Jay-Z and Flake are partners in Aqueduct Entertainment Group—the casino company that Gov. Paterson chose for the contract even though it initially said it would generate the least revenue, before drastically changing its estimates. Simmons reportedly was an advisor to Penn National Gaming, a losing bidder. Dozens of others are expected be questioned about the deal, including bidders who were passed over in favor or AEG. more ›

Ashley Dupre's new BFF and mentor may be Russell Simmons (hey, "don't call me a whore, you whores" rant and single were posted on Simmons' website), but Tommy Hilfiger totally outranks the Love Gov hooker in Simmons' book. Page Six reports, "After Hilfiger told [Rusell] Ashley Dupre was unwelcome at Tommy's Fashion Week party at the Jane Hotel, Simmons disinvited Eliot Spitzer's call girl"—the designer's rep explained, "Tommy didn't feel her presence would be appropriate." more ›

Ashley Dupre offered up her "year after the Spitzer scandal" thoughts in a blog post for Global Grind, Russell Simmons' hip-hop news site. Dupre writes about moving on, "I am now 23 years old and I’ve made more mistakes than most people make in a lifetime. But to look back and see all that I have overcome, and to stand here, and actually still be here at all, that is a huge achievement. I am proud of myself for surviving," and how she's working on her spiritual side, "The more I know my true self, the more I come to have faith that my presence on earth means more or at least has different meaning than the media or disbelievers have tried to frame it to be." She and Simmons met at yoga class, and naturally, Simmons blogged about it, "While bent over in uttanasana, I noticed a cute, little, short girl whose hands were not placed properly," and when she introduced herself later, he thought, "Oh my god, this 5 foot, 1 inch god-seeker was the $4000 'escort' of Governor Elliot Spitzer." more ›

Team Obama can breathe a sigh of relief, they officially got the Russell Simmons endorsement. From a letter sent out this weekend, Simmons declared:

Today I am announcing my personal endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. During the last nine months, I have closely observed the presidential campaigns, analyzed the issues and platforms of the major candidates, and have had substantive discussions with Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. From the sidelines of the primaries and debates, I have been particularly inspired by the fact that Senator Obama has built an unprecedented, national movement comprised of people from all ethnic, racial, political, social and economic backgrounds.

Joseph Jirovec and Kimberly Babajko are two of ten people arrested in an attack that was initiated by a friendly greeting of "Happy Channukah!" aboard a Q train in Brooklyn last week. Both Jirovec and Babajko have criminal records for assaulting minorities and could face hate crime charges in their latest brush with justice. Both are scheduled to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court today for the vicious beating they allegedly administered to Walter Adler, who was on his way home from a holiday dinner. Adler and his girlfriend were spared further injury when a complete stranger, Hassan Askari, intervened at his own physical expense. The young Muslim man was beaten alongside Adler. more ›

Hundreds gathered for the funeral of Linda Stein, who once managed musicians like the Ramones and later became a real estate broker "to the stars." Stein was found bludgeoned in her Fifth Avenue apartment on Tuesday, and her daughter Samantha Stein-Wells made tearfully shared a promise she and sister Mandy Stein made, "I had to see her one last time. One last time to see what this bastard had done to her. And we stood there and we promised that justice will be served. We won't stop until justice is served." more ›

Last night Top Chef began with a Quickfire Challenge consisting of everyone cooking Padma breakfast...we swear she thinks of the challenges when she's stoned (see: the onion cutting relay. C'mon!). After the "food awakening" they were in for a rude awakening. Sent to New York City, the contestants seemed genuinely happy when they saw the Manhattan skyline...but their dreams were dashed when they were held in New Jersey for a day at Newark Airport. Cooking airplane food. Oh dear. more ›

A judge sentenced Foxy Brown to a year in jail yesterday for violating the terms of her three-year probation. Officials asked that her probation be revoked following an incident in August when Brown (neé Inga Marchand) allegedly assaulted a neighbor with her BlackBerry wireless device. Brown was contrite and promised to adhere to whatever probation conditions the judge would set forth, but apparently the BlackBerry incident was the last of a long string of probation violations that proved too much for Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson. Probation officials said that Brown's violations included moving out of NY State without telling them, allegedly assaulting a beauty shop employee in a dispute over payment while in Florida (without asking permission to leave NY state), failing to report an arrest in NJ, not attending court-mandated anger mandated sessions, and not reporting to her probation officer. Brown was on probation for three years after pleading guilty to an assault on two manicure shop employees in NYC in 2004. more ›

Did you know New York is #4 of America's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Large Cities? It's no surprise there are so many famous and not-so-famous veggies living here. Focusing on the former, PETA is holding another poll asking who the Sexiest Vegetarian worldwide is. This is their sixth annual sexy veggie contest, and has a list of 233 celebs competing for the title, including our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man Tobey McGuire. While the poll only includes Hollywood herbivores, AMNY notes that celebs aren't the only high profile folk with a taste for tofu. If Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich were to win the 2008 presidential election, he'd be the first vegetarian in the White House. more ›

Al Sharpton continues his effort to clean up rap lyrics. After Russell Simmons held some meetings on the topic, Sharpton took it to the streets by marching in midtown, and now he's brought his campaign to Motown. more ›

The firing of Don Imus has caused many to take a look at language in not only media, but music. As previously mentioned, Al Sharpton is one looking to clean up what we hear, and yesterday he led a march against racist and sexist lyrics, targeting the major labels. Around 400 others joined him in a march around midtown, outside companies like Universal Music Group. The topic reportedly carried over to a private gathering at the Apollo later on, for what would have been James Brown's 74th birthday. more ›

After previews of the segment last week, The Rap Up shares video of Anderson Cooper's chat with Cam'ron on 60 Minutes to discuss the "no snitching" rule prevalent in the rap community. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and Jam Master Jay are all examples of murders that have gone unsolved. More recently, Busta Rhymes bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, was shot and killed at a video shoot; out of the 25 people believed to be present during the crime - no one has come forward. more ›

READINGS: Russell Simmons has written a self-help book and will be at Border's today promoting it (okay, now all of this recent noise he's making makes more sense)! It's called "Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success." None of the laws include any of these three words. more ›

Last week after his appearance on Oprah, Russell Simmons and other music industry execs met to discuss the state of rap lyrics. Following this secret meeting, a rep for Simmons made the following statement (in lieu of the press conference that was going to take place) saying this is a: "complex issue that involves gender, race, culture and artistic expression. Everyone assembled today takes this issue very seriously." more ›

On Tuesday "The Oprah Winfrey Show" became a platform for the Hip-Hop community to respond to the Don Imus controversy with a panel discussion featuring Russell Simmons, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Kevin Liles, Common and more. more ›

April 5: Italian Festa to celebrate the paperback publication of George deStefano's An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America. A reading and signing, followed by a Sicilian wine tasting, with antipasti served. Free. Hunters Point Wines and Spirits, 47-07 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens. more ›

The Reverend Al Sharpton held a press conference criticizing violence in the hip-hop community. The press conference was prompted by the alleged assault on the 14-year-old child of a rap music management company headed by G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo; apparently seeing the child wear a Czar Entertainment shirt on 25th Street sent him over the edge. more ›

The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been representing the family of police shooting victim Sean Bell, weighed in about the taxi driver who Bell shooting cop Michael Oliver allegedly assaulted 12 years ago. Sharpton held a press conference, where he said that revelations about Oliver show that's he's "inappropriate at best, and biased and racist at worst." more ›