Alleging slander and an attempt to discredit his organization, Najee Ali wrote an open letter to Russell Simmons stemming from comments the mogul made to AllHipHop.com regarding the UPN series Platinum.
Ali, National Director of Project Islam H.O.P.E., denounced Simmons for a statement that Ali and his organization are in solidarity regarding their complaints of the hip-hop drama. Simmons stated, “I don’t need that one ni**a to debate with…There are very few supporters.”
“For the record our organization’s e-mail address is packed with letters of support against the show,” Ali retorted.
Ali then berated Simmons for referring to him as a “ni**a” and the Los Angeles based leader chided the hip-hop mogul’s business practices.
“I am no ni**a. I am however, a young man and leader to many in the city of Los Angeles. Your speech violates your supposed ‘yogic centeredness,’” you often boast of,” he said.
According to Ali, Simmons sells hip-hop culture in the name of “Black Business,” but the only beneficiary is Simmons. He lists the Ludacris/Bill O’Reilly fiasco as a another example of Simmons using an incident for his own gain in the name of hip hop, as Simmons has announced his plans to buy his own soda distributor.
At this time Project Islam H.O.P.E. has no formal plans to boycott Platinum, rather Ali and members of his organization would like to have a meeting with the producers of the show to communicate their concerns over the script.
At presstime, Simmons was unavailable for comment.