NBC News is accused of shelving a story on sexual misconduct accusations against Russell Simmons and Extra's A.J. Calloway

The Hollywood Reporter

MSNBC's Joy Reid was working on the story of Sil Lai Abrams, who alleges that the music mogul raped her in 1996 and that Extra's Calloway sexually assaulted her in 2006, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter's Kim Masters. Extra airs on NBC owned-and-operated stations. Reid started working on Abrams' story in December and interviewed her on-camera in January. Yet the process for getting it on the air "dragged on frustratingly for weeks and then months," according to Masters. "At times, Reid texted or emailed Abrams about her sense that the network was 'slow walking' the story with 'stupid' requests. Finally, in April, Abrams says Reid told her that the network was no longer responding to her queries as to when the segment might air." Simmons, through his attorney, denied raping Abrams. In Calloway's case, Abrams filed a police report and Calloway was arrested but the case was later dismissed. "These decade-old allegations are false. They were false when they were first made and are false now," said an attorney representing Calloway. Asked to respond to its handling of the story, NBC News issued the following statement: "When MSNBC pursues any investigative story our mission is always to be as thorough as we can, to scrutinize sources and corroborate information before we report. Anything else falls short of our journalistic standards." Meanwhile, Joy Reid issued her own statement to TV Guide: "The process was clearly frustrating for Sil Lai, particularly once other women publicly accused one of the men," Reid said. "Investigative reports like these take time, and not surprisingly, sometimes journalists get frustrated as well. I inappropriately shared that frustration privately with Sil Lai. I completely respect MSNBC's standards and practices. Meticulous research to get the facts right was the only option, especially given the seriousness of the allegations."