Russell Simmons Pulls Harriet Tubman 'Sex Tape' From YouTube

Russell Simmons has issued an apology for a controversial video released on his All Def Digital YouTube channel Wednesday.

The video, a parody "sex tape" of the legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman, features Shanna Malcolm as Tubman having acrobatic sex with her master as a fellow slave records the activities while hidden in the closet. Tubman plans to exchange the racy tape for help freeing slaves through the Underground Railroad.

The video immediately sparked outrage across the Internet, swiftly turning "Harriet Tubman" into a trending topic on Wednesday night. A petition on Change.org garnered more than 600 people condemning the video.

"Not only does the Harriet Tubman 'sex tape' make a mockery of the history of transatlantic slavery, Harriet Tubman's memory in particular and the painful reality of sexual exploitation and terror in the lives of enslaved women," the petition reads, "But the video also contributes to rape culture by perpetuating the myth that women only 'pretend' not to enjoy being forced into having sex against their will."

In a lengthy statement on Globalgrind, Simmons explained why he had pulled the video from YouTube.

"In the whole history of Def Comedy Jam, I've never taken down a controversial comedian," he wrote. "When my buddies from the NAACP called and asked me to take down the Harriet Tubman video from the All Def Digital YouTube Channel and apologize, I agreed."

"I'm a very liberal person with thick skin and it's hard to offend me. My first impression of the Harriet Tubman piece was that it was about what one of the actors said in the video, that 162 years later, there's still tremendous injustice. And Harriet Tubman outwitting the salve master, I thought it was politically correct. Silly me."

If that aint f**kery I don't know what is!

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