Singer-songwriter, producer, former record executive and Motown legend Smokey Robinson has been accused of sexual assault by four former employees.
In the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday (May 6), four women purporting to have worked as Robinson's housekeepers between 2007 and 2024 are alleging sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, gender violence and a hostile work environment, among other things [via The Post]. The complainants are seeking $50 million USD in damages in the suit, which also names Robinson's wife, Frances.
UPDATE (8/5, 9:45 a.m. ET): Robinson and his lawyer have now responded to the lawsuit, both denying the allegations.
When The Daily Mail reached Robinson by phone, he simply said, "I'm appalled." He went on to the end call by saying, "I can't speak about this right now."
His lawyer, Christopher Frost, described the lawsuit as "vile," "false," and "an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon" [via The New York Times]. Frost added, "We ask anyone following this case to reserve judgment as the evidence comes to light and all the actual facts of the case unfold."
The following article contains potentially triggering material relating to sexual assault and violence. If you believe you have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct and are looking for support, consult the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime to find resources in your area.
All four women claim that the music mogul would wait until he was alone with them in his Los Angeles home, and would then sexually assault and rape them despite their objections. Jane Doe 1, who worked for Robinson and his wife from January 2023 through February 2024, alleges that the first assault happened in March, and "occurred at least seven times" until she resigned.
Doe 1 claims that Robinson would take his wife to the nail salon on the weekends, then hurry back home where she'd be working and call her into his bedroom. "He will have showered and clothed only in his underwear. He would then neatly place a white towel on his bed, not to soil the bed linens, in preparation for what was about to occur," the document reads.
Robinson would allegedly "roughly penetrate her vagina with his fingers, orally copulate her and proceed to penetrate her vagina with his erect penis causing her great pain," and "enjoyed ejaculating in her vagina without using a condom."
Jane Doe 2 claims to have been assaulted by Robinson at least 23 times during her tenure working for the couple from May 2014 until February 2020. She characterizes his alleged advances as "brutal," "constant" and "predictable" in the filing, claiming she would be summoned to the bedroom, laundry room or garage to be forcibly penetrated or forced to perform oral sex. Doe 2 alleged that, if she refused to have sex with Robinson, he would threaten to make Frances be "mean" to her.
Jane Doe 3, who worked for the couple from February 2012 through until April 2024, alleges that she was "sexually harassed, sexually assaulted and raped" by the musician "at least 20 times." She describes the same "exit ritual" of Robinson having exited the shower in only his underwear or naked, then putting a towel down on the bed so as not to soil the linens. Doe 3 allegedly turned him down on one occasion, prompting him to offer her $500 "to allow him to orally copulate her," which she refused.
In addition to being the couple's housekeeper, Jane Doe 4 also worked as Frances's personal assistant, cook and hairdresser from October 2006 to April 2024. She claims that Robinson first sexually assaulted her when she accompanied him to his Las Vegas home in 2007, adding that he "never used a condom during the sexual assaults," either ejaculating into her vagina or "all over her body, much to his satisfaction and her abject humiliation."
Also accusing Frances of having "failed to take appropriate corrective action to prevent" her husband's advances "despite having full knowledge of his prior acts of sexual misconduct," the accusers have maintained their anonymity out of fear of losing their livelihood, as well as public embarrassment, shame and humiliation.
"We believe that Mr. Robinson is a serial and sick rapist, and must be stopped," the plaintiffs' lawyer, John Harris, said at a news conference [via CBC].