Hip-hop magnate Russell Simmons endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Friday, saying she was a practical progressive he trusted while criticizing Sen. Bernie Sanders as “overstating what he can deliver to underserved communities.”
Simmons, the business mogul who co-founded the label Def Jam Records and several clothing lines, made the announcement in a series of Twitter posts that praised Clinton as a “longtime friend” better able to deliver on her promised policies.
Before backing the former secretary of state, though, Simmons first said on Twitter that he had had a conversation with Sanders that made him not want to back the Vermont senator.
“After speaking to Bernie Sanders I have decided that he is overstating what he can deliver to underserved communities,” Simmons said on Twitter. That was followed by a post in which he endorsed Clinton: “Today I announce my full support for the next president of the United States.”
The endorsement came as Clinton and Sanders have been scrambling for black support, with the Vermont senator lining up prominent African-American backers like writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, professor Cornel West and rapper Killer Mike. But in the string of Southern primaries on Tuesday, Clinton was able to corral a significant majority of the black vote.
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