Media mogul Russell Simmons has long been active in the world of politics.
From founding the Hip-Hop Action Summit Network to organizing protests to change the harsh sentencing of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the 58-year-old founder of the historic Def Jam record label has always found a way to leverage his influence politically.
With the race for president heating up and having long since denounced former friend Donald Trump’s bid, the question of which of the Democratic candidates would Simmons support has been posed and yesterday during an interview on CNN, Simmons finally revealed who he intended to throw his support behind.
“I just decided to endorse my longtime friend Senator (Hillary) Clinton,” Simmons said. “I think Bernie Sanders is overpromising. He’s insensitive to the plight of Black people and what good is it if you don’t take lobbyist’s money and you don’t acknowledge the #1 threat to America and to the world is the factory farming lobby because it is poisoning the planet quickly and it is poisoning its inhabitants.”
Simmons said he attempted to speak with Sanders about his concerns regarding the affects of factory farming but the senator from Vermont was not very receptive.
“I asked him about it and he brushed it off, even though he knows that your earthquake and certainly all of these storms are the result of factory farming,” Simmons said. “We now have all the proof in the world that climate change is manmade and we have to do something to derail it. So that to me, aside from his insensitivity to Black voters, caused me to support Hillary Clinton, who I think can win.”
While others such as Killer Mike have been very vocal in their support of Sanders, Simmons says in his opinion Clinton is the better candidate and can easily defeat any of the potential Republican candidates in the general election.
“I think Senator Clinton has been sensitive, supportive of a progressive agenda,” Simmons said. “She’s realistic in what she can get done. She’s able to beat the Republican candidate and I think Bernie Sanders would not be able to or could lose, and I don’t want to take that chance.”
