Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons has long been known as a civil rights activist, as well as, an animal rights activist. This past Thursday (July 16) he campaigned at an event sponsored by New Yorker for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets, in an attempt to urge Mayor Bill de Blasio to rid the streets of the Central Park horse-and-buggies. In doing so, Mr. Simmons compared the carriages to slavery and the holocaust.
"There were people for slavery, remember? Slavery was fine," said Russell. "There were people who put people in ovens. There are all kinds of ethnic cleansing, and people for it."
Russell Simmons is a supporter of Mayor de Blasio but has called him out to make good on the promise he made while running for office, to get rid of the horses. "The horses matter," Mr. Simmons said. "The promises you made matter. You got in office because we put you there. We put you in and we can take you out."
Mayor de Blasio was asked about Simmons statements about slavery and the Holocaust, although no comment from the mayor himself a spokeswoman said, ""We respectfully disagree with Mr. Simmons's characterizations of all of the above.""
