Def Jam's Russell Simmons compares carriage horse plight in NYC to the Holocaust

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57-year-old also referred to ethnic cleansing in his passionate comments
Urged people to support banning the popular tourist attraction at the park
Councillor David Greenfield said the businessman 'crossed the line'

Published: 06:14 EST, 17 July 2015 | Updated: 07:24 EST, 17 July 2015

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Music mogul Russell Simmons (pictured) has compared the plight of horses forced to pull carriages in Central Park to slavery

Music mogul Russell Simmons has compared the plight of horses forced to pull carriages in Central Park to slavery.

The 57-year-old also referred to ethnic cleansing and the Holocaust in an impassioned speech about the popular tourist attraction.

He made the comments after being asked what he thought of officials who opposed banning the animals.

The founder of Def Jam records told the Wall Street Journal the suffering of horses 'is a Holocaust' and urged people to support a change.

He said: 'There were people for slavery, remember? Slavery was fine. There are all kinds of ethnic cleansing, people for it.'

The businessman also slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio, who he claims promised to ban the carriages during his mayoral campaign.

'The horses matter. The promises you made matter,' Mr Simmons added.

Councillor David Greenfield said Mr Simmons 'crossed the line' with the comments.

He said: 'To compare the condition of horses who are working in New York City to the death of six million innocent human beings in gas chambers and crematoriums is mind-boggling.'

Mr Simmons has since posted a series of messages on social media slamming his critics and clarifying his comments.

On Thursday, he wrote: 'You're not here to please everyone,' before adding: 'Don't worry about what they're doing... Do YOU.'

The 57-year-old also referred to ethnic cleansing and the Holocaust in an impassioned speech about the popular tourist attraction (pictured)

The businessman also slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio, who he claims promised to ban the Central Park (pictured) carriages during his mayoral campaign

In an Instagram post later that evening, he added: 'Regarding my holocaust/slavery statements... meant to invoke compassion... 100 billion animals being born into suffering every year.

'I refered to that as a holocaust. I was refering to the worst karmic disaster in human history.

'And that is the ongoing suffering of the 100 billion animals who are born to suffer unimaginable atrocities every year.'