Tyrese Idolizes ‘King’ Russell Simmons In Instagram Post Despite Sexual Assault Allegations

Finding an entertainer on social media who is more vocal than Tyrese Gibson is no easy feat. The Fast and Furious franchise actor is known for his explosive moments on Instagram and his penning of lengthy captions detailing hardships in his life. Sometimes, the actor highlights the positives in his life, as well as friends who lift him up. In Tyrese’s latest Instagram proclamation, he idolizes hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. The same Russell Simmons who was accused of sexual assault by multiple women several weeks ago.

Simmons is one of the many recent entertainment figures to be accused of some form of sexual abuse. According to the Los Angeles Times, Keri Khalighi was 17 years old when Simmons forced himself on her as music video director Brett Ratner watched on. Simmons has denied these allegations and said the activity between the two was consensual. Khalighi isn’t the only woman to accuse Simmons, as writer Jenny Lumet shared a guest piece in The Hollywood Reporter detailing her encounter with the mogul in 1991.

Tyrese seems to be backing his long-time friend as he described him as a “force” in his most recent Instagram post. The actor’s post was a slew of confusing thoughts crammed together, which detailed Simmons having been a constant support system for him in his life and he thanked the entrepreneur for making such an impact on him.

The Transformers actor claimed he had just gotten off the phone with Simmons, whom he had called to “remind him of his greatness.”

Tyrese continued to call Simmons his hero and admitted he will tell everyone what a wonderful person he is. He then called his friend a “king” and hashtagged the photo gallery with #OurRealBlackSuperhero.

While Tyrese never mentioned the scandal surrounding his friend, the post seemed to be a defense of Simmons. The 38-year-old blocked users from making comments on the photos, suggesting he knew several commenters would bring up the serious misconduct allegations against the mogul. Tyrese generally allows comments on his Instagram but wasn’t in the mood for dealing with the negativity today.

HBO has scrubbed all mentions of Russell Simmons from "All Def Comedy" https://t.co/zW6AALpgDC pic.twitter.com/ZaYI32W8FE

— Page Six (@PageSix) December 3, 2017

The photo has over 7,000 likes and has been shared to Tyrese’s Twitter feed as well. The tweet only has a few comments, which appear to support Simmons as well.

Simmons has stepped away from social media since the allegations arose, not before sharing a post defending himself in response to the L.A. Times article. As the Inquisitr reported a few weeks ago, Simmons has recently stepped down from his many successful businesses.