After coming under fire — and apologizing — for a video parody depicting a supposed “Harriet Tubman sex tape,” rap and fashion mogul Russell Simmons took to Twitter Saturday to say he has made amends with Tubman’s descendants.
“The last few dayz [sic] I have been speaking to some of the direct descendants of Harriet Tubman. (Rita and Geraldine Daniels.)” Simmons Tweeted. “They have not only accepted my apology but we agree that we should begin immediately to develop the story of Harriet Tubman.”
Simmons’ Tweets began with a personal anecdote: “God works in mysterious ways,” he tweeted before revealing that he had talked with Tubman descendants, “not common knowledge but my children are direct descendants of frederick douglas… [sic]”
He followed that by writing: “I recently moved to hollywood [sic] I have began producing lots of content one of the things is a miniseries on Frederick Douglas” [sic]
Douglass, the son of a white slave owner and an enslaved black mother, was a legendary abolitionist. Tubman, who famously spirited some 300 slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, reportedly once pointed out to Douglass proudly that she “never lost a single passenger.”
Simmons, meanwhile, got some support Sunday from his political director, Michael Skolnik, who wrote a piece for Global Grind defending his boss:
