Russell Simmons: Donald Trump's political platform is insincere

Hip-hop mogul and entrepreneur Russell Simmons wrote an open letter to his former friend Donald Trump because he felt the need to call the billionaire presidential campaigner out on his insincere platform.

In his bid for the United States presidency, Trump announced his plans to ban all Muslims from entering the country should he be elected America's head of state, a proclamation that has infuriated millions of people.

Russell published an open letter to Trump on Wednesday (09Dec15) via his website GlobalGrind.com, in which he urged the political candidate to "stop the bulls**t" and "stop fueling fires of hate", as he believes the incendiary statements are only being used to drum up ratings and poll results.

"The message is I've known you forever as a person whos been friendly to people from all ethnicities and religions and so forth," Russell explained to Extra of what motivated him to write the letter. "That should be your platform, that's the platform that you operated on in the past.

"Fanning those fumes of hate has been a real good thing for his campaign, and that's sad. It's sad that America buys into it, and I think we have to set the country straight as much as we can."

Russell, the co-founder of Def Jam Records, who boasts an estimated net worth of nearly $350 million, reveals he and Trump were very close until The Apprentice star decided to run for president.

"He was a very sweet guy, he still is in his heart, I'm sure," Simmons said. "I haven't spoken to him recently since I said I thought Kim Kardashian would be a better President.

Russell will not back down on his position, even though his longtime friendship with Donald has been compromised, because he believes vilifying groups of people is dangerous.

"The most important thing we can do is protect all people in the way that we would like protection for ourselves," Russell added, "and I think right now the amount of Islamophobia in this country is at a high and it's dangerous for us as a country that's supposed to represent tolerance to have this level of hate brewing... and the fact that so many people support Donald Trump's statement is a statement in and of itself."

Trump's controversial remarks about Muslims came following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, France and San Bernardino, California.