Just days after announcing All Def Digital, Russell Simmons' new YouTube channel, the media mogul had to issue an apology for a video posted to the account. According to USA Today, Simmons came under fire after a video called "Harriet Tubman Sex Tape" went viral.
The video depicts an actress as famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman having sex with her "Massa" in order to get permission to run the Underground Railroad. According to reports the fake Tubman was only having sex with her white Master to blackmail him.
Tubman is remembered for freeing hundreds of slaves in the 1800s by helping them hide and travel through a series of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. Many people found the video offensive and insensitive.
After getting a call from the NAACP, Simmons took the video down and issued an apology on Globalgrind.com.
"In the whole history of Def Comedy Jam, I've never taken down a controversial comedian. When my buddies from the NAACP called asked me to take down the Harriet Tubman video from the All Def Digital YouTube channel and apologize, I agreed," he wrote.
"My first impression of the Harriet Tubman video was that it was about what one of the actors said in the video, that 162 years later, there's still tremendous injustice. And with Harriet Tubman outwitting the slave master? I thought it was politically correct. Silly me. I can now understand why so many people are upset... I have taken down the video."
Besides the recent announcement of the YouTube channel, Simmons also announced that he is creating a label called All Def Music with YouTube and Universal Records, Rollingstone magazine reports. He wants to use the video-sharing site to develop and promote new artists.
