Hip hop legend Russell Simmons is blasting Fox News personality and recent "Celebrity Apprentice" runner-up Geraldo Rivera as a desperate attention seeker stemming from his sharp criticisms of the lifestyle the hip hop music promotes and the alleged negative impact it has had people of color.

"Geraldo hasn't done s**t to help people," Simmons told TMZ. "After losing, he needs to just talk to get himself relevant."

Earlier this week, Rivera told Huffington Post that "hip-hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years." Describing himself as a "militant moderate," Rivera challenged anyone to "find a youngster -- a Puerto Rican from the South Bronx or a black kid from Harlem who has succeeded in life other than being the one-tenth of one-tenth of one percent that make it in the music business -- that's been a success in life walking around with his pants around his ass and with visible tattoos."

Later, the long outspoken Rivera put much of the blame for such developments right at the doorsteps of industry pioneers like Simmons.

"And I love Russell Simmons," he said. "He's a dear friend of mine. I admire his business acumen. At some point, those guys have to cop to the fact that by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream, they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can't participate other than, you know, the racks in the garment center and those entry-level jobs, and I lament it. I really do. I think that it has been very destructive culturally."

Fifty-seven-year-old Simmons co-founded the Def Jam music label and launched such fashion lines as Phat Farm and American Classics. In 2011, his net worth was estimated to be in the neighborhood of $340,000 million.

Simmons is almost as well-known for philanthropic and activist work as he is his hip-hop roots. He was once Chairman of the Board for the Foundation of Ethical Standards and regularly took part in the Occupy Wall Street protests that filled city streets across the country for more than a year beginning in 2011.